Chungnam Asan City Selected as the Best Institution for Women-Friendly Cities

Ministry of Gender Equality Designates 95 Women-Friendly Cities in Local Governments as of Last Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] Asan City in Chungnam, Jecheon City in Chungbuk, and Dobong-gu in Seoul have been selected as excellent institutions for creating women-friendly cities.

On the 24th, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family announced that it will award government prizes to 8 newly designated local governments as women-friendly cities, 21 re-designated local governments that signed agreements for creating women-friendly cities, and 3 local governments selected as excellent cities last year.

The number of local governments designated as women-friendly cities has increased from 2 in 2009 to 95 as of last year.

Asan City in Chungnam, selected as the best institution for creating women-friendly cities in 2021, received the Presidential Citation, while Jecheon City in Chungbuk and Dobong-gu in Seoul, selected as excellent institutions, received the Prime Minister's Citation.

Asan City in Chungnam established a system where the Urban Regeneration Division and the Women and Family Division jointly promote projects to reflect a women-friendly perspective in the urban regeneration project process, and created a gender equality street including a community center supporting women's social activities and a women's rights data repository.

Jecheon City in Chungbuk strengthened the foundation for promoting gender equality policies through the operation of a women-friendly city performance evaluation system for each department and eup/myeon/dong office, and was recognized for achievements such as supporting women entrepreneurs and fostering various clubs. Dobong-gu in Seoul has a gender equality specialist and promoted a project to install security devices targeting areas densely populated by single-person households through the activities of a citizen participation working council.

In 2021, 8 local governments including Taebaek City in Gangwon, Yongsan-gu in Seoul, Jung-gu in Incheon, and Gyeongju City in Gyeongbuk were newly designated as women-friendly cities. Sixteen local governments, including Jeungpyeong-gun in Chungbuk, whose agreement period (5 years) expired after designation as women-friendly cities, were re-designated and will promote projects as women-friendly cities for the next 5 years.

After 10 years since the first designation as women-friendly cities, Dong-gu and Buk-gu in Gwangju, Cheongju City in Chungbuk, Asan City in Chungnam, and Yangsan City in Gyeongnam were re-designated as third-phase women-friendly cities.