Seoul City to Promote 54 Projects in 6 Areas on March 8 for International Women's Day

‘Achieving a Gender-Equal City Seoul Where Everyone Works Equally and Safely’ Goal with a Total Investment of 641.8 Billion Won

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] To mark International Women's Day, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 7th the 'Seoul City 2021 Gender Equality Implementation Plan,' consisting of 54 projects across six areas: ?gender-equal labor ?gender-equal culture expansion ?enhancement of women's representation ?work-life balance ?eradication of violence against women ?establishment of a foundation for gender mainstreaming. The plan aims to realize 'a gender-equal city Seoul where everyone works equally and safely,' with an investment of 641.8 billion KRW.

This year, Seoul's gender equality policy focuses on improving unstable labor conditions for women, the concentration of caregiving responsibilities, and concerns over increased violence against women, all of which were reconfirmed due to COVID-19 last year, aiming to enhance citizens' sense of impact.

First, regarding the creation of a gender-equal labor environment, Seoul operates the 'COVID-19 Working Moms Legal Support Group' to prevent women from losing their existing jobs for unreasonable reasons. One labor attorney will be additionally assigned to each of the three Working Moms Support Centers operated by Seoul to provide legal support services for working mothers' rights, including refusal to use maternity protection systems such as pregnancy, childbirth leave, and parental leave, unfair dismissal, wage arrears, and other labor law violations.

Within the Women and Family Policy Office, a 'Discrimination Investigator (Labor Attorney)' will investigate and recommend corrective actions regarding gender equality and labor law violations that may occur at all stages of employment?recruitment, placement, promotion, evaluation, and compensation?targeting Seoul City and its affiliated institutions.

Efforts to close the gender wage gap, which remains at the lowest level among OECD countries, will include expanding the scope of the 'Gender Equality Wage Disclosure' first implemented nationwide by the city in 2019. The disclosure target will be expanded from Seoul City investment and contribution institutions to include the Seoul City Hall and the University of Seoul, encouraging participation from the private sector as well.

Seoul will also take the lead in creating women's jobs to overcome the employment shock caused by COVID-19. Approximately 37,000 jobs will be created through vocational training and employment/startup support at women's job institutions, with a budget of 31.1 billion KRW. In particular, as part of the 2030 women's employment measures, high value-added future promising job courses that can respond to the post-COVID era will be developed, and education and employment/startup support will be provided through 24 women's workforce development institutions.

Furthermore, Seoul will invest 542.5 billion KRW in work-life balance by expanding public care infrastructure to create an environment where people can work comfortably. This includes expanding national and public daycare centers (1,800 locations), neighborhood care centers for elementary school children (254 locations), and increasing support for child caregivers.

Efforts will also be made to spread a culture of gender equality in everyday life, such as at home and in the workplace. Using the Gender Equality Fund, support will be provided to women and non-profit organizations working to foster a culture of gender equality and expand women's social participation. This year, 50 organizations will be selected and supported with a total budget of 1 billion KRW.

The 'Seoul Yeodamjae (女談齋)' (located in Changsin-dong, Jongno-gu), a shared space for women's history, will also be fully operated. Visitors can access about 4,000 books related to women's history, and the space will operate projects such as oral history research on 100 modern and contemporary women, youth women's history classes, and community programs to raise and share citizens' interest in women's history. Additionally, 63.4 billion KRW will be invested to eradicate violence against women exposed to various forms of violence, including workplace sexual harassment, digital sex crimes, crimes targeting single-person households of women, and concerns over increased domestic violence due to COVID-19.

To commemorate the Japanese Military 'Comfort Women' Memorial Day (August 14), an international forum will be held to share historical records related to the Japanese Military 'Comfort Women' and promote international solidarity. Researchers and citizens related to 'Comfort Women' from both domestic and abroad will participate to discuss the significance of the records discovered by Seoul and explore research and solidarity measures.

In addition, Seoul will improve related systems and culture to strengthen gender awareness across city administration and spread a gender-equal organizational culture. Gender equality indicators will be added to mandatory pre-review items during plan establishment, and gender impact assessments will be enhanced to strengthen the reflection of gender perspectives in policies. Special gender awareness education will be conducted for level 3 and above officials, and the top 10 rules of gender-equal culture will be shared to promote organizational gender sensitivity.

Song Da-young, Director of the Seoul Women and Family Policy Office, said, "International Women's Day on March 8 commemorates the day in 1908 when female workers rose up to demand improved labor conditions. Although more than 110 years have passed since then, women still face direct and indirect discrimination in employment, wages, and daily life." She added, "Seoul will do its best to eliminate gender inequality in various fields through the Gender Equality Implementation Plan."

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