[Reporter’s Notebook] How Long Will the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Be Neglected?

Ruling Party-Government Consultation on Digital Sex Crimes Excludes Main Ministry
Unprecedented 140 Days Without a Minister

As recent digital sex crime cases have come to light, the ruling party held a party-government consultation last month and began working on countermeasures together with officials from related ministries such as the Ministry of Justice and the National Police Agency. They decided to consider establishing a hotline and revising relevant laws to respond to victim reports. However, notably absent from this meeting was any official from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, the main ministry responsible.

Even after dating violence incidents, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family held field meetings and proposed related measures, but plans for cooperation with related ministries such as the Ministry of Justice and the National Police Agency were again missing. The measures were limited to strengthening existing victim support services, excluding direct preventive measures such as punishment and response plans for perpetrators. Moreover, budget plans for these measures were not included.

Creating a single policy requires the efforts of all ministries. This is especially true for issues that threaten the survival of the people. The case of dating violence, which has caused numerous victims over a long period without a dedicated law, is no exception. It is a problem that requires the combined efforts of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, which handles women's violence, the National Police Agency, which receives victim reports and apprehends perpetrators, and the Ministry of Justice, which prosecutes offenders. Since the inter-ministerial consultation process was omitted, no proper solution could emerge.

According to insiders, this situation is not new. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, being relatively weak, continues to be unable to secure cooperation from other ministries even when it wants to create policies to solve problems. Civil servants complain that in the course of their work, they are often outpaced by other ministries in policy leadership and budget allocation priorities. It seems like a mechanism to reinforce the stereotype that "the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family officials in Seoul are incompetent."

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family has been pushed to the brink due to the government's blatant intention to abolish it. There is suspicion that following the ruling party's defeat in the general election, the government, whose revision of the Government Organization Act has been stalled, is now attempting to "strangle" the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. In fact, since former Minister Kim Hyun-sook resigned about 140 days ago in February, the ministry has faced an unprecedented "vacant ministerial post." On the 4th, the government began a cabinet reshuffle by replacing minister-level officials, but the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family minister, the only vacant position among the candidates, was not included. The ministry's fate was also not mentioned in the government's announcement on the 1st regarding the establishment of the Population Strategy Planning Department.

In this atmosphere, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family has responded lukewarmly whenever incidents of dating violence, digital sex crimes, and various sexual violence murders have occurred recently. There was also a passive atmosphere sensing that the ministry should not act hastily since it might disappear at any time. The vice minister, acting on behalf of the absent minister, appears to be focusing only on internal personnel matters such as organizational restructuring.

The government must stop pitting ministries against each other and neglecting the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. As revealed by the seriousness of recent dating violence cases, the issue of gender equality in Korean society still has a long way to go. It is hard to consider society fully equal when an average of 1.23 women per day are stalked by their partners and sometimes beaten to death. Although Korea self-assesses as a developed country in many indicators, it still ranks outside the top tiers in gender equality indices. Especially at this time, when the current government emphasizes solving population issues, the role of ministries handling gender equality, family, and women's rights is more important than ever. Instead of leaving the ministry to fail in its role, swift measures should be taken to determine how it will be operated.