Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
Global experts to discuss gender equality in pandemic era
Gender Minister Lee Jung-ok announces a forum on “Gender Equality and COVID-19 Pandemic” to be held Thursday and Friday, during a press briefing at the government complex in Seoul, Monday. Yonhap
By Bahk Eun-ji
Gov't to hold 2020 Gender Equality Forum online
By Bahk Eun-ji
Korea will hold a gender equality forum virtually this week to discuss the impact and challenges the coronavirus pandemic has presented with regard to sexual equality, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said Monday.
Under the theme of “Gender Equality and COVID-19 Pandemic,” the global forum will take place Thursday and Friday, according to the ministry.
The conference for discussion on gender equality and women, peace and security marks the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA), and the 20th of U.N. Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325.
The BPFA adopted action strategies and future plans aiming to promote gender equality on the regional as well as international level and to strengthen the role of women at the 4th World Conference on Women in 1995. UNSCR 1325 was adopted in 2000 to expand the participation of women in the process of eradicating sexual violence against women in conflict zones and in dispute resolution, based on the relationship between women, peace and security.
By celebrating the anniversaries, this forum will be the place to discuss the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on women and their role and effective participation in the Green New Deal and Digital New Deal, the government's ambitious policy package designed to boost the economy in the post-coronavirus era through digital transformation.
The seminar was supposed to bring together global experts, scholars, government officials, social activists and ambassadors from dozens of countries around the world, but it will be held online this year due to COVID-19 and will be broadcast live on YouTube, the ministry said.
This year's forum, which consists of four sessions, will bring together professors and renowned activists from various countries including Canada, the United States, India and Mexico.
The ceremony will begin with a speech by Gender Minister Lee Jung-ok and a video congratulatory address by President Moon Jae-in. In the video message, Moon said “Women have been demonstrating their capabilities as subjects in the process of overcoming the current virus crisis, although the pandemic revealed the unequal reality women have faced.”
During the first session set for Thursday, Anita Bhatia, assistant secretary-general and deputy executive director for resource management at U.N. Women, and Kim Eun-kyung, research fellow of Korean Women's Development Institute (KWDI), will present about future development strategies with the BPFA in the both international community and Korean society.
The second session about expansion strategies for peace and security for women will be attended by Jacqueline O'Neill, Canada's ambassador for women, peace and security, and Kim Jeong-soo, standing representative of Women Making Peace.
Discussions for the third session will take place Friday by Anne Marie Goetz, clinical professor of Center for Global Affairs at New York University, and Bae Eun-kyung, associate professor of the department of sociology at Seoul National University, to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on women.
For the last session, Gabriela Ramos, assistant director-general for social and human sciences of UNESCO, and Ahn Hye-yeon, president of the Center for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology, will present about women's rights and roles in the post-pandemic era.
“This forum is meaningful in that it examines how the value of gender equality has developed over the past 25 years since the adoption of the BPFA in 1995, and that Korea and the international community will unite and cooperate for global gender equality under the COVID-19 crisis,” Gender Equality Minister Lee said.