Choi Young Hee,
President, Korean National Council of Women

     Since the late 1980s, when women's policy became a formal part of the national policy agenda, the social status of women in Korea has steadily improved, particularly in the 1990s with the implementation of active measures to promote women's rights and welfare. Beginning in 1996, to expand women's participation in society, target quotas for the recruitment of women in public service along with women's presence in various government committees have been implemented, and a three-year (1995-97) plan to expand and strengthen child-care facilities for working mothers has been carried out. The legal framework for the protection of women's rights and the realization of gender equality has been strengthened with the passage of the Law on Prevention of domestic violence, along with amendments to the Special Law on Sexual Violence and the Nationality Law. Furthermore, the first five-year (1998-2002) Basic Plan for Women's Policy has gone into effect this year. However, under the current economic recession and soaring unemployment following the corporate restructuring that has been mandated by the bailout agreement with the IMF, women workers have been the first victims of massive lay-offs and are faced with a great deal of insecurity in the work place. The budget for women's policies are being cut in favor of programs for the unemployed. The gap between the laws and the reality in women's status remains very wide.

I. Women's Policies after 1996

1. Legislative Advances

* Basic Law on Women's Development
(passed in 1995 and entered into force in 1996)

     Amidst heightened public awareness on women's affairs in the aftermath of the 4th World Conference on Women in Beijing, the Basic Law on Women's Development was passed in December 1995 and went into effect on July 1 the following year. The Law has institutionalized gender equality as an abiding principle in all areas of public life, and has served as the basis for the fundamental reorientation in women's policy from a focus on women and families in need of protection to a more universal concept of women's welfare. Furthermore, the Law recognizes the central role of NGOs in the realization of gender equality. In accordance with the Law, a Women's Development Fund has been created as well as the 1st Basic Plan for Women's Policy (1998-2002). However, in the process of writing the Law, the views of the diverse women's organizations were not fully reflected, and the Law continues to lack concrete directions for policy making and implementation. Thus, women's organizations have been pushing for further amendments.

* Nationality Law (amended in 1997)

     Before the amendment, the Nationality Law was based on the principle of paternal lineage, by which only children born to Korean fathers became Korean. As a result, children born to Korean mothers wed to foreign men, who had come to the country in large numbers as industrial workers, were left without a nationality. Thus, the Law was amended to allow for maternal lineage as well, thank in large measures to the efforts of women's organizations that fought against the paternal lineage principle as being blatantly discriminatory. The amendment went into effect in June this year, and children with either father or mother of Korean nationality are now entitled to citizenship. Women's rights and the status of mixed blood children have also been enhanced as a result.

* Special Law on Sexual Violence (amended in 1997)

     First enacted in 1993, the Special Law on the Punishment of Sexual Violence and Protection of Victims was amended in July 1997 to lift the requirement of self-report by victim in indicting sexual offenses against minors under thirteen years-of-age and to toughen the punishment against such crimes. The amendment has also made it a legal obligation of the authorities of facilities for the protection, education, and treatment of children under eighteen years-of-age to report crimes committed against the children to law enforcement. It has also expanded the extent of family lineage, thus opening the way to indict sexual violence committed by a stepfather against his adopted children.

* Legislation against domestic violence (1997)

     On July 1, 1998, the Special Law on Punishment of domestic violence Crimes and the Law on Prevention of domestic violence and Protection of Victims went into effect. The legislation was made possible by the growing public awareness that violence in the family should no longer be treated as a private matter and society must intervene in this increasingly serious social problem. The laws obligate the police to appear at the scene right away and investigate when a case of domestic violence is reported. The police also have to take appropriate measures such as assisting the victim to take to the doctor and/or the counselling center, if necessary. The offender is subject to the family protection order, such as off limit, limit on their custody rights, probation, public service, counselling, etc.

2. Reorganization of Government Machinery for Women's Policy

* Presidential Commission on Women's Affairs

     Upon inauguration in February 1998, the new government has promptly set out reorganizing the national government for greater efficiency and transparency in public administration. A part of the change has been the closure of the Ministry of Political Affairs (II) - in charge of women's affairs but without portfolio - and the establishment of a Presidential Commission on Women's affairs. Also, in the six Ministries of Justice, Public Administration and Local Autonomy, Education, Public Health and Welfare, Agriculture and Forestry, and Labor, a new position has been created respectively for a new Officer in Charge of Women's Affairs. The Presidential Commission on Women's Affairs advises the President. Composed of the Vice Ministers of six related Ministries, experts and NGO representatives, the Commission deliberates policies on women's affairs and coordinates the work of the relevant Ministries with the assistance of a 40-member Secretariat. The Chairperson of the Commission, however, is not a member of the Cabinet, unlike the former Minister of Political Affairs (II).

* 1st Basic Plan for Women's Policy (1998-2002)

     The Basic Law on Women's Development mandates the government to draft a basic plan for women's policy every five years. The 1st Basic Plan for 1998-2000 is a comprehensive national plan, offering the basic framework and direction for women's policies for the next five years. It spells out six strategies - institutional reform and women's representation, strengthened support for women's employment, expanded educational opportunities for women's competitiveness, strengthened support for women's cultural and social activities, consolidation of women's welfare services, and women's role in international cooperation and national unification - and twenty policy tasks to be fulfilled.

* Women's Development Fund

     The Women's Development Fund finances projects designed to promote gender equality and women's development. In accordance with the Basic Law on Women's Development, the Fund was first created in 1997 with the goal of securing 100 billion won by the year 2001. Financial support for women's projects are made from the Fund's interest earnings. The initial plan was to allocate 10 billion won of the government's budget every year for the Fund. But due to financial difficulties, only 5 billion won in 1997 and another 5 billion in 1998 have been secured. In 1997, the Fund's interest earnings were used to support the projects of twelve women's organizations.

3. Women's Employment

* Enhancing Women's Vocational Abilities

     The number of government-established "Working Women's Centers", offering women various vocational training, is being increased from 17 in 1997 to 25 in 1998. Financial support for the centers is being strengthened so as to transform them into one-stop training and job placement centers for women. Public vocational training opportunities for women are also being expanded by increasing the percentage of women recruits in the various public training facilities from 15% in 1997 to 20% in 1998 and by establishing new programs in information and communication technology, electronic publishing, fashion design, jewelry craft, computer animation and other fields suitable for women. For housewives wishing to find work outside the home, six vocational training centers offer programs specifically suited to their needs.

* Expanding Child-Care Facilities

     Between 1995 and 1997, the government made concerted investment to establish child-care facilities around the country. As of September 1997, there are 1,130 national and public centers, 7,603 private establishments, 153 work places with in-house nurseries, and 5,641 homes made into nurseries for a total of 14,627 child-care facilities accounting for 504,371 children. In 1998, the focus has been to increase the number of in-house nurseries in work places and to upgrade the existing facilities.

* Incentives for Women's Employment

     Beginning in 1997, the government offers incentives to companies that rehire women who are returning to the work force after child bearing and nurturing years. To deal with the soaring number of women workers who have been layed off in the current economic recession, beginning in September 1998 the government will offer 1/3 of the pay to large corporations and 1/2 of the pay to small businesses that employ women who must financially support their families. A special training program for women heads-of-household will also be established, with a monthly allowance of a maximum of 400,000 won and the tuition fee of each trainee being met entirely by the government.
     Beginning on August 17, 1998, in the 2nd phase of public service works designed to mobilize the unemployed, work categories particularly suited to women will be added, such as paid service in social welfare facilities, home-care services, traffic safety workers, etc.

4. Social Participation of Women

* Women's Presence in Government Committees

     In November 1995, the presidential advisory commission on globalization selected ten policy tasks aimed at expanding women's social participation. The tasks have since been steadily promoted, including some temporary affirmative action measures such as fixed targets for women's presence in various government committees and recruitment in public service.
     In government committees, the goal is to gradually increase the percentage of women in committee membership to 30%, as recommended by the United Nations, by the year 2002: 10% in 1996, 13% in 1997, and 15% in 1998. The new government readjusted the target for 1998 to 20%.

* Women's Participation in Public Service

     To expand women's participation in public service, target recruitment percentages for women have been established, first in 1996 for the recruitment of 5th and 7th rank officials. The initial plan called for 10% in 1996, 13% in 1997, 15% in 1998, 18% in 1999, and 20% in 2002 for 7th rank. However, the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Autonomy adjusted the plan to achieve 20% in 1999. The system will be expanded to include 9th rank positions in national and local offices.
     Furthermore, since 1995 civil servants, both women and men, are able to take extended leave from work for child-care or other family matters. The leave is for a maximum of one year for the care of an infant under one year-old or for a family member in need of long-term nursing care.
     Meanwhile, in public enterprises, "incentives" have been introduce to encourage the employment of workers, but the results so far have been unimpressive.

* Women in the Military Academies

     In the past, military academies were closed to women. In 1997, the Air Force Academy opened its doors, and in 1998 the Army Academy did the same. The Naval Academy is to follow suit in 1999. The military is also drafting a mid and long-range plan to nurture and utilize women soldiers and officers.

5. Women's Rights and Welfare

* Fighting Violence against Women

     To protect women from violence, which the low social status of women is conducive to, the Law on Prevention of domestic violence was passed and the Special Law on Sexual Violence amended. In addition to legislative remedies, protection facilities for the victims of violence have been expanded. As of 1998, there are 38 Sexual Violence Counselling Centers around the country, 13 of them with financial assistance from the government for operational costs. As of the end of 1997, there are three facilities for victims of sexual violence, and seven shelters in large cities offering a maximum of 30-day protection to women and their children who are victims of domestic violence. Meanwhile, to offer the government's direct prrotection and assistance to the so-called "comfort women", now elderly ladies who had been made sexual slaves under that misguiding name to the Japanese military troops during its imperial past, a law was passed in 1993. As of the end of 1997, 158 such victims are receiving living allowances of 500,000 won/month as well as right to government housing and force medical care.

II. Present State of Korean Women

     Thanks to the above-outlined efforts of the government, the status of women in Korea has improved a great deal. However, women are hardly present in the policy-making process, and rising unemployment in the present economic recession threatens the livelihoods of countless women.

1. Women's Participation in Politics and Policy-Making

     Despite their high educational level and active participation in the economy, Korean women rank very low in the political sector. According to the UNDP's 1997 Human Development Index, Korea ranks 73rd among the surveyed countries in terms of the Gender Empowerment Measure.

* Political Participation

     Women's presence in the political sector remains very low in Korea. At present, of the 299 members of the National Assembly only 11 are women (3.68%), a small increase from the seven (2.3%) of the previous 14th Assembly (1992-1996) but still far below the global average. In the local levels also, the newly elected councils (for 1998-2001) maintain the low level of women's participation at 5.7% for the provincial councils and 1.6% for the county councils, representing little gain from their predecessors (for 1995-1998). In the proportional representation seats for the provincial councils, there has been a setback - from 44.3% in 1995 to 36.5% in 1998, a great disappointment for women's organizations that had urged the political parties for women quotas.

* Exclusion of Women from High-Level Policy-Making Process

     The government of President Kim Dae Jung had promised to introduce quotas for women and to expand women's participation in key decision-making posts at both the national and local levels. The promise has not been met yet. Among the 17 members of the cabinet, only two are women. There is not a single women Vice Minister. Among the six senior secretaries in the Presidential Office, again no women.
     Target percentages have set for women's presence in various committees affiliated with government ministries and offices. But as of the end of 1997, women account for only 11.1% of all committee memberships, less than the goal of 13%. Women account for 27.9% of all civil servants, but they remain concentrated in the lower ranks. Despite the established targets for women's recruitment in high public service, women account for only 2.5% of the higher positions of 5th rank and above.

2. Economic Participation

* Discriminatory Lay-Offs of Women Workers

     As of the end of 1997, women account for 49.5% of the economically active population. However, of the workers employed for less than 36 hours/week, 61.3% are women, indicating that the employment situation for women in general is very unstable. The situation has further deteriorated with the sweeping reforms in the economic sector, as mandated by the agreement with the IMF. Corporate restructuring, factory closures, and bankruptcies have led to massive lay-offs. With the conception that men are the bread-winners and women are homemakers still prevalent in society, women workers have fallen victim to discriminatory, unjust dismissals. In January 1998, the Ministry of Labor opened windows at all of its local offices to receive petitions from women workers who had been unjustly layed off. But the program has been ineffective due to lack of publicity and the difficulty in defining what counts as discriminatory standards in lay-off decisions. The lack of expertise and gender awareness among the supervising officials has also been an obstacle. At present, employees at work places with five or more regular paid workers are covered by employment insurance. But many women work part-time or temporarily in smaller companies and thus are not covered by the insurance.

* Vocational Training for Women

     There are numerous establishments providing vocational training to women, such as "Working Women Centers", "Women's Centers", and "Women's Development Centers". However, most are limited to short-term programs designed for low-income workers. Programs for women professionals are lacking. Public vocational training centers in general have expanded their reeducation and reemployment programs for the rising number of workers layed off under corporate restructuring. But most are indistinguishable and insensitive to the special needs of women workers. There is a lack of diversity, and job placement after training is ineffective. As of the end of May 1998, only 12.3% of all trainees that received reemployment training actually found employment. The rate would be even lower for women.

3. Human Rights and Welfare

* Violence against Women

     The magnitude of sexual violence against women continues to grow in Korea. Between January and March 1998, 2,158 cases of rape were reported, representing a 12.7% increase from the same period last year. Given that sexual crimes more often than not go unreported, the actual number of victims will be enormous.
     In particular, with social discontent intensifying in a contracting economy, the problem of battered wives is becoming even more serious. domestic violence counseling centers have reported a doubling in the number of cases dealt with this year.

* Unemployment of Low-Income Women

     The effect of being layed off is most keen on workers who had been the breadwinners of their families. The number of such people out of work has soared from 25,000 (1.3%) in 1996 to 85,000 (4.9%) as of April 1998. Of them, 60,000 are women heads-of-household without help from other family members. Most of them had been employed part-time or temporarily by small firms not covered by insurance. They require special measures.

III. Future Tasks

     The guiding principles in the 1st Basic Plan for Women's Policy is promotion of gender equality, expansion of women's social participation, and the strengthening of women's welfare. The legal and institutional framework for women's development has been greatly improved. The challenge is to apply it to everyday life. In short, the task for the future will be to close the gap between de jure and de facto status of women. In particular, women NGO's must strengthen their monitoring function to ensure that the government's committment to women's policies and the allocated resources remain firm in the face of the present economic difficulties.
     The following are some suggestion for continued advances for women in Korea.

1. The Presidential Commission on Women's Affairs must be strengthened.

     Newly established in 1998, the Presidential Commission on Women's Affairs does not have any legislative or judiciary authority, but merely advises the President on women's policy. The Basic Law on Women's Development must be amended to give the Commission semi-judicial and semi-legislative powers. Only then will it be able to carry out its mission as the government body in charge of women's policies.

2. The budget for women's policies must be increased.

     In the 1998 government budget, a mere 0.23% is accounted for by projects relating to women. The assistance provided to low-income women workers and other needy women remains at a minimal level, reflecting the dominant tendency of policy-making to give a low priority to women.
     To mainstream women's policy, the budget for the related projects must be expanded, despite the present economic hardship. The fund must be secured for society to share the cost of child-birth and nurturing, as well as to effectively implement the laws that call for counseling centers and shelters for the victims of violence and other abuses. The Women's Development Fund must be secured in full.

3. Women's participation in politics and policy-making must be expanded.

     Temporary affirmative action measures must be implemented to increase women's participation in the public sector, which remains very low despite the significant gains for women in other areas. Based on this principle, the Korean National Council of Women has called for the following reforms in the political sector. The present single-member electoral district system in the National Assembly elections must be replaced with a multi-member district system along with the introduction of a proportional representation system whereby voters vote for both individual candidates and political parties. While reducing the number of representatives directly elected from districts, the percentage allocated to women in proportional presentation must be set at 30% or above. The necessary changes must be made in the relevant laws. Furthermore, the target for women's participation in government committees and recruitment in public service must be increased to 30% by the year 2000.

4. Women's employment must be expanded with preferential measures.

     So far, the incentives offered to public enterprises to employ women have been ineffective. To rectify the situation, recruitment of women and the increase/decrease therein must be made an item in the evaluation of the management performance of the public enterprises. The evaluation should serve as the basis for financial benefits, tax breaks, and other incentives to further encourage the firms to hire women.
     In accordance with the government's strategy for labor market flexibility, a law was passed on February 1998 that opened the doors wide for firms to replace regular workers with non-regular temporary workers, thus aggravating the instability in women's employment. Specifically, the law makes legal "dispatch services", companies that specialize in loaning out personnel for work, which are generally taken up by women workers, such as computer assistants, teaching assistants, secretaries, typists, nurses, and nannies. The result is expected to be greater insecurity for women workers.

5. The cost of child-birth and care must be shared by the government.

     At present, the cost of maternity and child-care leave for a woman employee is shouldered almost entirely by the employer. Companies are thus reluctant to hire women, and women are the first to go when the times get hard. Thus, measures must be worked out for the public sector to share the cost. Aware of this need, the new government has included it among the 100 national tasks for 1998. Concrete action has yet to come.

6. Unemployment measures for women must be strengthened.

     Women are layed off far more easily than men, and once layed-off women face a much harder time of finding reemployment. Thus, supervision over unfair, discriminatory dismissal of women must be strengthened with the number of supervisors greatly increased. The standards for supervision must be clearly spelled out, and those in violation given due sanctions. For unemployed women, vocational training must be strengthened and effectively linked to reemployment opportunities.

7. Women's welfare services must be improved.

     During the past decades, social welfare provisions have greatly expanded in Korea, but gender equality has not been a major consideration. Women who work in the unremunerated, unofficial sectors of society remain excluded from the national pension system. The support for low-income single-parent families is only enough for a minimum level of survival. Welfare provisions in general should be upgraded, and this in a way that fully incorporates women's needs.

8. Women's rights and gender equality education must be strengthened.

     Despite the laws against gender discrimination and violence against women, women's rights continue to be violated and women remain generally ignorant of the laws and the judicial process. In some cases, the laws are flawed, but the lack of a gender perspective and publicity in society is the more serious problem. Law enforcement authorities must be educated in the gender perspective. From the earliest years of school, the formal educational curricula must include gender equality as a fundamental value and reflect the changing status and roles of women in society. Furthermore, the mass media must continue to be monitored for discriminatory content and urged to mainstream the gender perspective in program production and personnel decisions.

9. The laws must continue to be amended to eliminate discrimination.

     The legal status of women in Korea has been greatly enhanced since the 1980s, as discussed in Part I. However, "the household head system", a remnant of the traditional male-dominated society, remains in the civil law, perpetuating the preference for boys and the submission of women in social practices. The system must be amended. The Equality Employment Law should also be amended so as to provide the legal foundation for sanction against indirect discrimination, and to include provisions for the prevention and punishment of sexual violence in the work place.