Seoul City Establishes Special Measures to Eradicate Gender Discrimination and Sexual Harassment

Forming and Operating the Countermeasure Committee and Innovation Committee

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] The Seoul Metropolitan Government is taking measures to prevent the recurrence of the 'Park Won-soon Secretary Sexual Harassment' allegation case and to promote an internal culture of gender equality. It will establish and operate the 'Seoul City Special Committee for Eradicating Gender Discrimination and Sexual Harassment' (Special Committee), which includes external experts, and the 'Gender Equality Culture Innovation Committee' (Innovation Committee), composed of employees at grade 5 and below. On the 3rd, the city stated, "This is a time when self-purification efforts are required to eradicate issues of gender discrimination and sexual harassment and to restore citizens' trust in Seoul city administration."

The Special Committee, scheduled to launch in September, will include external experts to objectively assess the realities of workplace gender discrimination and sexual harassment revealed by the Park Won-soon Secretary sexual harassment allegation case and to establish special countermeasures. It will be composed of 15 members, including Ewha Womans University Professor Kim Eun-sil and Acting Mayor of Seoul Seo Jeong-hyeop as co-chairs, along with eight external members such as women's organization representatives, lawyers, and labor attorneys. The Special Committee will advise on matters such as ▲protection of victims and support for their return to daily life ▲measures to prevent secondary harm and recurrence against victims ▲improvements to the sexual harassment and sexual violence complaint and case handling system.

Measures to reflect the voices of internal employees will also be prepared. The plan is to form the Innovation Committee with about 20 employees at grade 5 and below. The Innovation Committee will discuss problems related to gender-discriminatory expressions and systems experienced in daily life and propose improvement plans. The city plans to form the Innovation Committee by accepting applications from employees who voluntarily wish to participate. It will then organize the committee into four groups?▲female public officials at grade 5 ▲female public officials at grade 6 and below ▲male public officials ▲public officials with secretary work experience?to inspect and promote improvements in organizational culture by job group, gender, and department.

Earlier this month, an online awareness survey on gender discrimination and sexual harassment will be conducted targeting all employees at the headquarters and business offices. Through a professional survey agency, questions will be asked about workplace culture and practices related to gender discrimination and sexual harassment, as well as awareness of sexual harassment and sexual violence. The results will be analyzed to prepare prevention measures and improve victim support systems. Song Da-young, Director of the Seoul Women and Family Policy Office, stated, "We will actively reflect the major improvement requests pointed out by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family during the on-site inspection on the 28th and 29th of last month in the special measures," adding, "We also plan to incorporate recommendations following the National Human Rights Commission's ex officio investigation results in the future."

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