[Initial Reaction] Minister Lee Jung-ok of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family's Mental Victory

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Ji Yeon-jin] A few years ago, a female executive at a mid-sized company recalled that running coffee errands was the most arduous task during her rookie days. She said she felt great self-disgust as she took on coffee errands within the department for a while, surpassing her male peers who joined at the same time. Later, she reached a point where she would preemptively offer coffee before seniors asked her to run errands. Rather than feeling upset that coffee errands were menial tasks, she found it less humiliating to consider it a voluntary choice. It was bittersweet throughout the interview to hear that the secret to breaking the glass ceiling and becoming the first female executive in a male-dominated industry was 'mental victory.'

Nowadays, with heightened sensitivity to gender equality, it is rare to find supervisors who openly discriminate against female employees. However, cases of sexual harassment that objectify women are still frequent. While it may not be blatant sexual harassment like groping a female employee's thigh, there are subtle acts that induce sexual humiliation, such as evaluating appearance or using one's position to coerce unwanted relationships. The problem lies in the organizational culture that considers it not sexual harassment if there is 'no physical contact.' Even if physical contact occurs, there is a similar perspective that it could be mutual affection.

Recent remarks by Minister of Gender Equality and Family Lee Jung-ok regarding the sexual harassment allegations against the late former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon reveal the current state of sexual sensitivity in our society. On the 3rd, during a National Assembly hearing, when asked by an opposition lawmaker whether the sexual harassment allegations against the late Mayor Park and former Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don were power-based sex crimes, Minister Lee responded, "It is not appropriate to define the charges for cases under investigation." Underlying this response is the perception that the sexual harassment allegations against ruling party local government heads are only one-sided claims by victims, and the truth has not been revealed.

According to the 'Workplace Sexual Harassment and Sexual Violence Incident Handling Manual' published by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family in 2018, the conditions for establishing sexual harassment include the Supreme Court's 'reasonable victim's perspective,' which states that "it must be recognized that an ordinary person would feel sexual humiliation or disgust." Former Mayor Oh showed acknowledgment of sexual harassment by resigning voluntarily just before a female Busan city employee's MeToo (Me Too) movement. The late Mayor Park took his own life shortly after the victim reported the sexual harassment. There was no note expressing grievance over the subordinate's MeToo claim. Since police investigations are ongoing in both cases, it would be reasonable for the accused to remain in position and actively refute the allegations if no sexual harassment occurred.

In this regard, the Minister of Gender Equality and Family's evasion of answering questions about a socially impactful sexual harassment case by citing 'police investigation' is sufficient to raise doubts about her qualifications. The Ministry is the competent authority overseeing sexual harassment in public institutions. According to the Ministry's sexual harassment manual, sexual violence and sexual harassment have different criteria and handling procedures. Even if the same act is legally acquitted, the organization can discipline the act as sexual harassment. The manual also includes 'secondary harm' not only as socially established concepts like 'badmouthing the victim' but also acts that create public opinion supporting the perpetrator or defending and excusing them.

Under 'victim-centeredness,' the ministry responsible for prioritizing victim protection is instead committing secondary harm by fostering public opinion supporting the late Mayor Park, citing the criminal law principle of 'presumption of innocence.' Moreover, the Ministry remained silent for a long time immediately after the late Mayor Park's death and neglected the victim even though both Seoul City and the ruling party referred to the victim as a 'complainant.' Yet, the minister answered in the National Assembly that "we are responsibly responding to issues of gender discrimination and sexual violence." Is the minister also enduring by 'mental victory' to survive within the ruling party?

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