 Paik Hee-young, Minister of Gender Equality and Family, explains gender and family affair-related policies in Korea to seven journalists from the United States at the ministry headquarters in central Seoul, Friday. |
By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter
Paik Hee-young of the Minister of Gender Equality and Family had a meeting with seven journalists from the United States Friday.
The reporters from USA Today, CNN, the Wall Street Journal and four other publications were visiting Korea through the Korea-U.S. Journalists Exchange Program run by the Korea Press Foundation.
Paik first spoke about the history of the ministry, which started as a special committee under the Kim Dae-jung administration in 1998 and was later established as a ministry in 2001 with the title of Ministry of Gender Equality.
In 2005, the ministry was reformed to include family affairs and renamed, but the family and childcare service was moved to the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs in 2008. On March 19, the ministry went through another revision to embrace family issues.
A study from the Korean Women's Development Institute showed that the country earned 59.4 points out of 100 in the gender equality index in 2009. Korea was ranked relatively low in international indexes as well ― 25th in the Gender-related Development Index, 61st in the Gender Empowerment Measure of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and 115th in the World Economic Forum's Gender Gap Index.
The U.S. journalists showed interest in the social and economic status of women in Korea and the minister explained how Korea is improving gender equality despite some indexes still ranking Korea bottom of its list. ``Specifically, we are implementing various policies offering financial support,'' Paik was quoted as saying.
When the journalists asked why the marriage rate and birthrate was so low in Korea, the minister explained Korean women have difficulty balancing work and a family.
Paik also cleared up misunderstandings of wage discrimination in Korea as there is no gap between men and women in the same position, but average salaries are different because men hold higher positions.
meeyoo@koreatimes.co.kr
