Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education Launches 1st Gender Equality Committee... "Increasing the Proportion of Women in Management Positions"

Jeong Hyun-baek Former Minister of Gender Equality Elected as Chairperson
Jo Superintendent: "I Will Improve the Proportion of Women in Management Positions"

Cho Hee-yeon, Superintendent of Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education / Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has launched the 1st Gender Equality Committee and is working on establishing a gender mainstreaming plan that incorporates a gender-sensitive perspective throughout the administration of the education office.

On the 10th, the Seoul Office of Education announced that the committee consists of 15 members, including elementary, middle, and high school teachers, experts from sex education and sexual violence-related organizations, figures from women's groups and civic organizations, and two education office officials. They elected former Minister of Gender Equality and Family Jeong Hyun-baek as the inaugural chairperson.

The committee will support strengthening the gender awareness capacity of education office members and take the lead in creating a gender-equal educational environment. Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon also pledged to increase the proportion of female managers at the first plenary meeting of the 1st Gender Equality Committee held the day before. While the female ratio among all teachers and general staff officials under the Seoul Office of Education is high?87% in elementary, 72.8% in middle schools, and 74.1% in general positions?the proportion of female managers at grade 5 or above is relatively low: 34.8% in elementary, 29.2% in middle schools, and 27.5% in general positions.

The education office and the committee plan to jointly develop a "Gender Equality Index" that can measure the degree of gender-equal educational environment creation within the education office. The Gender Equality Index is expected to include items such as the proportion of female managers, surveys on gender awareness by target group, and the completion rate of gender sensitivity education. The committee will also provide advisory services on policy directions related to the development of sex education materials scheduled for distribution to schools in March next year.

Superintendent Cho said, "I hope this year will be the inaugural year for innovating an equal organizational culture, expanding the incorporation of gender-sensitive perspectives into policy formulation across all departments, and that the activities of the Gender Equality Committee will serve as a foundation for all departments of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education to implement effective policies based on gender equality values."

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