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The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (MOGEF; Korean: 여성가족부; Hanja: 女性家族部; lit. Ministry of Women and Family), formerly the Ministry of Gender Equality (여성부, 女性部, lit. 'Ministry of Women'), is a cabinet-level division of the government of South Korea. It was created on February 28, 1998, as the Presidential Commission on Women's Affairs. The current ministry was formed on March 19, 2010. The head of this ministry is vacant; currently there is an acting minister while the position is vacant.
History
Origins
Since the establishment of the South Korean government in August 1948, the Ministry of Social Issues (사회부; 社會部) handled discrimination against women until the department's merger in 1955. During this time, the Ministry of Social Issues merged with the Ministry of Health (보건부) to become the Ministry of Social Issues and Health (보건사회부). In 1994, the Ministry of Social Issues and Health became the Ministry of Health and Welfare (보건복지부); subsequently, the organization began to take action of sexism. However, the ministries were criticized for social positions belonging to women and the organization's unreliable enforcement of its policies.
Specific policies addressing sexism began to be addressed with the establishment of the Department Heading State Affairs (정무장관실) on February 25, 1998, after the inauguration of President Kim Dae-jung. On February 28, 1998, the Presidential Commission on Women's Affairs (여성특별위원회) was formed. On July 23, 1999, the law forbidding and regulating sexual discrimination (남녀차별 금지 및 구제에 관한 법률) was created. However, the criticism concerning the lack of advancements for women in societies continued, and the Ministry of Gender Equality (여성부) was formed as a response on January 29, 2001. The organization was established with these responsibilities: protecting the victims of domestic violence and sexual violence, prevention of prostitution, and overseeing women's occupations from the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
Developments
On June 12, 2004, the ministry received the responsibility of supervising the field of child development. On June 23, 2005, the ministry reorganized to become the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (여성가족부) for rebranding purposes. On February 29, 2008, the ministry was renamed back to the Ministry of Gender Equality while transferring the responsibilities of overseeing families and child care to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, later changed to the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs. On March 19, 2010, the Ministry was rearranged to become the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, still keeping the responsibilities of overseeing teenagers and families.
Organization
Objectives
According to the Official Ministry of Gender Equality and Family English website, the objectives are to plan and coordinate women's policy, and improve women's status through the enhancement of women's rights, establish, conciliate, and support for the family policy and multicultural family policy, foster welfare and protect youth, and prevent violence against women, children, and youth as well as victims.
Functions
According to the Official Ministry of Gender Equality and Family English website, the functions of the ministry are to plan and coordinate gender-related policies, have gender impact analysis of policies, develop and utilize women resources, expand women's participation in society, prevent sex trade and protect its victims, prevent domestic and sexual violence and protect its victims, and forge partnerships with women civil groups and international organizations.
Gender equality policy
| 1.Promote awareness and culture of gender equality | 1. Combat gender discrimination in the mass media. 2. Enhance gender equality education in school. 3. Promote a gender-equal culture in daily lives. 4. Raise the effectiveness of civic education on gender equality. |
| 2.Ensure equal right to work and opportunities | 1. Promote equal employment opportunity. 2. Address employment-related gender discrimination. 3. Enhance women's status in the labor market. 4. Provide support for women to maintain and advance careers. |
| 3.Enhance women's representation and participation | 1. Enhance women's representation in the political and public areas. 2. Boost women's representation in private corporations. 3. Increase women's leadership capacity. |
| 4.Create social infrastructure for work-life balance | 1. Strengthen social responsibility for care-giving. 2. Guarantee working parents' maternal and paternal rights. 3. Foster a family-friendly culture in the workplace. |
| 5.Eradicate violence against women, and improve women's health | 1. Strengthen the framework for policies to eliminate violence against women. 2. Enhance measures to combat diverse forms of violence against women. 3. Provide stronger protection and support for sexual violence victims. 4. Improve the groundwork for gender-responsive health system. |
| 6.Strengthen the implementation mechanism for gender equality policies | 1. Revise the implementation mechanism for gender-mainstreaming policies. 2. Strengthen the capacity of gender-responsive policies. 3. Establish and increase cooperation system with civil society. 4. Promote peace and unification activities and international cooperation. |
Controversy and criticism
MOGEF has been criticized for the involvement of the word Women (여성) in its name, bringing charges of taking a side in the issue of gender inequality and reverse discrimination. The ministry has been involved in several controversies, each calling for its abolishment in 2006, 2008, 2013, and 2021.
In 2006, the MOGEF established a policy to pay men not to hire prostitutes on men's New Year's Day parties. Men were told to sign up on the website with their national identification number, and the total budget was 3,600,000 Won (3,175 US Dollars). Crowds formed a petition to bring down MOGEF.
In November 2011, the ministry enforced a System of forced shutdown of teenage gaming (청소년 게임 강제 셧다운제도). The law has been criticized as being ineffective, encouraging teenagers to commit the crime of using their parents' resident registration number, and restricting the production of domestic games. The law was abolished in August 2021.
