The new president of South Korea, Yoon Sak-yeol, has recently become a controversial figure among the country's women. This is because he stated that structural gender discrimination is now " a thing of the past ".
After taking office, President Yoon Sak-yeol abolished the government's gender quota and declared that people were recruited based on merit, not sex. There arises the problem that skills exist only among men. The reason for this is that even the representation of women in his 19-member cabinet is limited to three.
Amazing decision!
"Structural sexism" can have a wide range of definitions. It simply means the distribution of power and resources in political, economic and cultural institutions along gender lines. It can exist even in a micro level household.
Yoon Sak-yeol – www.koreatimes.co.kr
Yoon Sak-yeol is also planning to abolish the Ministry of "Gender Equality" in South Korea, following through on his declaration. Many services were implemented for the South Korean society through this ministry. They can be summarized as follows.
- Planning and coordination of women's policies.
- Advancing women's rights.
- Support, provide protection for youth activities and welfare.
- Establish, coordinate and support policies for families and multicultural families
- Prevention of violence against women, children and youth and protection of victims.
Why does the South Korean president intend to abolish a government agency that distributes many services?
Is South Korean society drifting toward a "utopia" of equality to the point where gender discrimination is nil?
Before looking for an answer to the above problem, let's take a look at Yuna's experience.
Abolition of a government agency that delivers a range of services is surprising – abcnews.go.com
The clerk washed the towels
Yuna, who went to work as a clerk in a major bank in South Korea, had an unpleasant experience on her first day. The reason is that there are some unexpected duties among the duties assigned to her. First of all, she had to prepare lunch for her team. She was then ordered to take the small hand towels from the men's toilet and clean them!
Coming as a clerk, Yuna was assigned some unusual duties www.bbc.com/news
Yuna no longer had the ability to agree to extraordinary duties. She approached the head of the institution politely refusing to wash the hand towels. Unexpectedly, the head of the organization became angry at Yuna's complaining, and Yuna realized that if she continued to stand her ground, the situation would only get worse.
"So I started washing the towels."
Yoona said while speaking to the media.
South Korea is moving fast in many areas, but they have missed one thing. That's Women - www.nytimes.com
Soon she filmed all this and reported it to the government for investigation. In addition to the abuse that got progressively worse, the lack of support from other young women around her age further exacerbated the problem.
"It's like this everywhere. Don't worry!”
She got such a reply from her office colleagues.
One thing missing!
South Korean society occupies a unique position in the global community. That society has many identities that attract the attention of the whole world. South Korean pop music and the film industry can be cited as examples. It is surprising to hear about Yuna's experiences in a society that is progressing with technology and human development. South Korea is moving fast in many areas, but they have missed one thing. That's women.
How the gender pay gap exists in several countries – www.statista.com
It is said that South Korean women still receive one-third the salary compared to men. It is also the largest gender pay gap among rich countries. South Korean politics is markedly male-dominated, and even executive positions in companies are few and far between for women. It is shown as a percentage of 5.8%. The inequality does not stop there. As technology advances at a rapid pace, digital sex crimes are on the rise in South Korea. Their most common victims are women.
In 2021, 11,568 digital sex crimes were reported from South Korea, which represents an 82% increase from previous years. Often these crimes are committed through hidden cameras. It involves secretly capturing women on camera and threatening them.
Park's experience
Park Ji-hyun is a 28-year-old woman who works as a women's rights campaigner. Although she had little interest in active politics, Park decided to accept an invitation from a certain political party. As women's representation is necessary for the political reform work of the respective party, they hoped for Park's help. But, after about six months, she left the political party. Having experienced firsthand the pervasive sexism and lack of concern for women in South Korean politics, she worked to leave the political party as soon as possible.
“They ignored me. It feels like just shouting into an empty space. When I wanted to discuss the economy or the environment, he told me to focus only on what he knew."
The party wanted to see her raise her voice on women's issues and sexual crimes. Through that, Park was used as a strategy to attract women's votes to his party. Although she had great potential as a social activist, the respective political party treated her with great disdain.
Results of a survey on the abolition of the controversial ministry – www.asiapacific.ca
This shows that there is clear gender discrimination or unequal treatment in the general corporate environment of South Korea through Yuna, and in the country's politics through Park. Although these are all isolated incidents, the range of background issues that arise from them is vast.
If this is the case, how can the South Korean president say that "structured sexism" is a thing of the past?
Mixed opinions among men
South Korean women are now reacting to the President's actions. As a result, 800 organizations have already come forward to protest against the proposal to close down the Ministry of Equality.
Some young people in South Korea say they too are victims of discrimination – www.bbc.com/news
Although a background is being created in which the male side also supports the protests, there are different opinions among men regarding the abolition of the ministry. For example, some South Korean men believe that today's women enjoy a greater range of rights compared to the past, and they suggest that gender equality should reach a new stage. They had highlighted the need for a new system that goes beyond feminism and covers all communities to protect even the rights of minorities.
Signs that the problem has no solution
About 0.2% of the government's budget is allocated to the Ministry of Equality. According to the women, their lives have undergone a clear change due to the ministry. The reason for this is that the ministry has been a great help to women who have suffered injustice.
According to the government, the current services of the ministry will be maintained continuously, but those services will be operated under other departments. That change has become a problem for women's rights organizations.
Women are an important factor in a progressive society – www.chinadailyhk.com
What happens to the priority of services when many services that were operated under a single ministry are divided into several external departments?
There is no clear answer yet.
South Korean women still face many problems, such as sexual abuse, verbal abuse, gender pay disparity in the job market, and difficulty entering the highly competitive labor force after having children. If the situation is like that, how can the importance of a government agency that stands up for them diminish?
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