"Male Employees Fight Wildfires, Female Employees Sent Home"... Controversy Over Daejeon City Assembly

'All Staff Called' Text Sent, 1,000 Gathered
After 1 Hour, Only Female Employees Sent Home... Daejeon City: "Dangerous Work, Mainly Men Proceed"

Last weekend, as wildfire emergencies prompted emergency mobilization orders for public officials across Seoul and other regions nationwide, it has been reported that Daejeon City excluded female public officials from emergency duty, sparking controversy.

On the 3rd, several verified public officials posted on the workplace verification community 'Blind' expressing unfairness regarding 'gender discrimination' related to wildfire suppression efforts. Author A posted a message titled "Daejeon City public officials urgently mobilized for wildfire, then suddenly told women to go home?" along with a screenshot of a web message. The message stated, "Female employees on emergency standby at the wildfire site and those gathering, please return home."

Regarding the situation, public official B said, "At first, a message was sent to all employees to gather at a specific location, but an hour later, female employees received a message telling them to go home," adding, "Male employees were also waiting without a place to enter, so female employees leaving their posts felt uncomfortable."

A wildfire broke out on the 2nd in Boksu-myeon, Geumsan-gun, Chungnam, adjacent to Sanjik-dong, Seo-gu, Daejeon. Photo by Yonhap News

According to Daejeon City, the Daejeon City Hall Forest and Greenery Division sent an emergency wildfire mobilization text message to all city employees regarding the wildfire that broke out in Sanjik-dong the previous afternoon, resulting in about 1,000 public officials gathering at Giseong Middle School, where the wildfire suppression headquarters was established.

The issue arose with a second message sent at 6 p.m. the same day instructing female employees to go home. Furthermore, a message sent at 10:48 p.m. stated, " Male employees of the main office, please board the bus at the east parking lot by 6 a.m.," effectively excluding female employees from emergency duty.

As the controversy grew, a Daejeon City official explained, "Wildfire suppression is physically demanding and dangerous, and since not all employees are needed, male employees were primarily assigned," but also apologized, saying, "It was thoughtless and lacked consideration."

Meanwhile, netizens condemned Daejeon City's work directive as 'gender discrimination.' Comments included, "In a situation where the wildfire must be extinguished regardless of gender," "Shouldn't the women excluded from the work feel more upset?" "Only men do overnight duty, only men do wildfire duty. Why are only male employees chosen?" and "Is putting out wildfires less dangerous for men?"