[2020 National Audit] Constitutional Court, Only One Female Public Official of Grade 3 or Higher

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] Criticism has been raised that the Constitutional Court's gender equality personnel policy is very inadequate.

According to data submitted by the Constitutional Court to Assemblyman So Byeongcheol of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee, among 13 public officials at grade 3 or higher belonging to the Constitutional Court, only one (7.7%) is a female public official.

Among the entire 320 public officials of the Constitutional Court, 153 are female, accounting for 47.8%, but the proportion of women decreases to one-sixth as the rank goes higher. This is the largest gap among other institutions under the jurisdiction of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee.

Gender inequality was also clearly revealed in parental leave. According to the "Parental Leave Usage Status in the Last 5 Years," from 2016 to 2020, an average of 18.8 women per year took parental leave, while only 1.2 men per year did, showing a ratio of 16 to 1. The number of days used also showed that women used an average of 493 days (about 16 months), whereas men used only an average of 150 days (about 5 months).

Earlier, in June last year, the Constitutional Court carried out internal reforms to eliminate discrimination among its members and revised the Constitutional Court Public Officials Regulations to add a clause stating that "appointing authorities shall not discriminate against affiliated public officials based on gender, disability status, etc., when managing positions." Additionally, regarding parental leave, the regulation was amended from recognizing only the first year of leave for the first child as training necessary for promotion to recognizing the period if both parents take leave for six months or more for the first child.

However, there was little change in the usage status of parental leave in the first half of this year. Considering that the ratio of men to women taking parental leave in the private sector in the first half of 2020 was about 1 to 3, the gender gap in parental leave at the Constitutional Court is more than five times worse than in the private sector.

Assemblyman So pointed out, "Although the government has continuously made efforts through plans to expand the appointment of female managers, looking at the current status of grade 3 or higher managers in institutions and the target ratio of female managers in central government ministries being 8.2%, it clearly shows that Korean society still does not provide equal opportunities to women." He added, "It is regrettable and shameful that the reality of gender equality is even worse at the Constitutional Court, the highest constitutional institution that presents constitutional values and standards," and urged, "I hope the Constitutional Court will take the lead in practicing the constitutional value of gender equality, which is an important task for our society."

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