Jongno-gu Designated as a Women-Friendly City Ideal for Women to Live In

Since the enactment of the ordinance in 2018, efforts to establish a foundation for gender equality policies through dedicated staff recruitment and appointment of resident participation groups... In 2021, signed an agreement with the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family to carry out ▲Work Experience Project ▲Isimjeonsim Women’s Safety Village Creation ▲Jongno Travel Path Project, etc.

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Jongno-gu (Mayor Kim Young-jong) was newly designated as a ‘Women-Friendly City’ by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family on the 30th of last month, following its status as a UNICEF Child-Friendly City and a WHO Age-Friendly City.

A ‘Women-Friendly City’ refers to a city, county, or district that operates policies ensuring balanced participation of women and men in regional policy and development processes, aiming to empower women, provide care, and ensure safety.

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family has been designating Women-Friendly Cities since 2009 to create gender equality policies that local residents can directly experience.

In the case of Jongno-gu, one of the pledges during the 7th local government term was to create a ‘Women-Friendly City where women can live well,’ pursuing various projects with the goal of ‘realizing a truly gender-equal society.’

Starting with the enactment of the ordinance on the creation of a Women-Friendly City in 2018, efforts were made to build a foundation for gender equality policies by strengthening gender awareness capabilities and gender mainstreaming policies.

Furthermore, on January 1, 2019, a Women-Friendly City team was newly established and dedicated personnel were added. In September of the same year, a Women-Friendly City Resident Participation Group was appointed to encourage resident participation.

The district supported the Resident Participation Group by holding related capacity-building training, project discovery meetings, and facilitating active activities such as field monitoring.

In 2020, considering the difficulty of face-to-face activities due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, cyber capacity-building education and an online campaign for International Women’s Day were conducted.

Additionally, a contest titled ‘Changing Unequal Daily Life Together’ was held to create a Women-Friendly City in Jongno, and a Women’s Safety Village project was implemented.

At the beginning of 2021, Jongno-gu signed an agreement with the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and plans to promote 13 projects under five major goals over five years with the vision of ‘An Equal Daily Life Created Together, a Women-Friendly City for All, Jongno.’

Representative projects include the ‘Work Experience Project,’ which provides job training and employment linkage for women with career interruptions, and the creation of the ‘Empathetic Women’s Safety Village,’ applying Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) based on resident participation.

Also noteworthy are the ‘Jongno Travel (女行) Road’ project, which studies and discovers the history of women active in the region, and the ‘Women’s Communication and Women-Friendly Space Creation’ project, which establishes base spaces to support women’s activities.

Mayor Kim Young-jong stated, “A city where not only women and men but also children, adults, and the elderly all feel safe and convenient is truly a city where everyone wants to live. I hope that the designation as a Women-Friendly City, following the Child-Friendly and Age-Friendly City statuses, will become a new driving force to improve the quality of life for all residents of Jongno-gu. In 2021, we plan to actively promote Women-Friendly City projects by applying the concept of women-friendliness throughout the district administration.”

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