Children’s TV show director wins Seoul Gender Equality Award

Lee Ji-hyun, a producer at EBS and longtime director of “Ding Dong Dang Kindergarten,” a popular children’s program, was awarded the 2025 Seoul Gender Equality Award’s Grand Prize for challenging traditional gender roles through her work.

Lee Ji-hyun

As part of the government-backed Gender Equality Week (Sept. 1–7), the Seoul Metropolitan Government held its annual conference on Tuesday to recognize individuals and organizations that have made notable contributions to advancing gender equality.

The Grand Prize this year went to Lee for her pioneering work in planning and producing the first youth sex education episodes on public broadcasting and for promoting gender equality through children’s programming, such as “Ding Dong Dang Kindergarten” and “Earth Hero Thunder Man.”

In “Earth Hero Thunder Man” and other shows, she introduced diverse characters such as girls who love sports, boys who enjoy reading, fathers on paternity leave and children from single-parent families, encouraging children to develop egalitarian and accepting attitudes. She also created special sex education episodes for “Ding Dong Dang Kindergarten,” which taught young viewers about bodily autonomy, the importance of respecting boundaries and how to speak up to trusted adults if those boundaries are crossed.

The event was co-hosted by the Seoul Metropolitan Council of Women, a rights organization representing 34 women’s groups based in the city, and attended by more than 600 people, including Mayor Oh Se-hoon.

“The Seoul city government will support women’s economic activities with policies such as the ‘Seoul Woman Up Project,’ so that women can fully demonstrate their abilities on the paths they choose, and can be confidently respected both at home and in society,” Oh said.