Seoul City, First Local Government to Create 'Gender-Equal Pay Practice Guidelines'

Nationwide Distribution Starting Early Next Month... Encouraging the Creation of Gender-Equal Work Environments in the Private Sector
Self-Diagnosis Guidelines Provided to Help Workplaces Voluntarily Practice Gender-Equal Pay

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] Seoul City announced on the 30th that it will produce and distribute the "Seoul City Gender-Equal Pay Practice Guidelines" early next month, becoming the first local government in the country to do so in order to eliminate the gender wage gap through the practice of gender-equal pay.

The guidelines are based on a research report by the Korean Women's Development Institute and reviewed by the Seoul City Gender Wage Gap Improvement Committee. In particular, to enhance usability in corporate settings, a self-diagnosis checklist and relevant legal regulations are specified to enable the practice of gender-equal pay.

These include ▲recruitment and hiring ▲training, placement, promotion, and evaluation ▲retirement and resignation ▲parental leave and reduced working hours during childcare ▲pregnancy and childbirth ▲labor unions ▲wages, with self-diagnosis checklists and autonomous surveys on wage and employment management for each field to practice gender-equal pay.

Companies can use the self-diagnosis checklist and autonomous surveys on wage and employment management to independently investigate compliance with laws such as the "Act on Equal Employment and Support for Work-Family Balance" and the practice of gender-equal pay, while workers can use the self-diagnosis checklist to verify whether actual gender equality is being achieved across all personnel matters.

For example, regarding recruitment, it allows checking whether the number of recruits planned by gender is predetermined and whether there are differences in employment types (regular, non-regular, etc.) based on gender, along with guidance on related legal regulations.

In addition to the self-diagnosis checklist, the guidelines introduce the necessity of practicing gender-equal pay, factors causing the gender wage gap, policy trends to eliminate the gender wage gap, and the current status of gender wages in Seoul, raising awareness of the importance of practicing gender-equal pay and helping both companies and workers understand that the gender wage gap is a result of gender discrimination occurring in various complex dimensions.

Meanwhile, since implementing the "Gender-Equal Pay Disclosure System" last year, Seoul City has expanded the scope of wage information collection for investment and affiliated institutions from regular and indefinite contract workers to fixed-term and part-time workers this year, and selected 20 to 30 private consignment institutions in Seoul as pilot targets for gender wage information collection and analysis, striving to improve the gender wage gap in the private sector.

Song Da-young, Director of the Seoul City Women and Family Policy Office, said, "The Gender-Equal Pay Practice Guidelines are the result of long deliberation and efforts by experts in related fields," adding, "We will do our best to create a gender-equal working environment from the public to the private sector, including changing the long-standing incorrect gender stereotypes."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.