[In-Depth Review] Does Stopping the Abolition of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family End the Debate?

Published 09 Aug.2021 14:16(KST)

Calls to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (hereinafter ‘MOGEF’) have surfaced again. The reason given is that MOGEF uses gender issues as a tool to incite gender conflicts. This is the presence of a tiny department that uses about 0.2% of the entire government budget.

From any perspective, when the focus is on ‘women,’ social interest in MOGEF inevitably intensifies. Seeing women gradually entering spaces previously occupied only by men can be unsettling and sometimes infuriating. Women are not taking away men’s jobs. Employment issues arise from the structure of the post-industrial society, regardless of gender.

However, for women who have just started their job search, gender-based violence is a very threatening factor. Men do not experience the constant vigilance about whether there are illegal hidden cameras wherever they go. Even in dual-income households, when a child is born, childcare becomes solely the woman’s responsibility. Career breaks are a ‘female’ experience.

It is possible to stir public sentiment by focusing on the expansion of women’s social participation. Due to personal experiences, the public may respond to such agitation. However, gender-based violence, gender discrimination still present in family relations and the labor market (patrilineal principle in civil law, sole childcare and career breaks experienced only by women, gender-based violence at work) sufficiently justify the existence of the Ministry of ‘Women’ and Family. But is this the end of the debate?

How well has MOGEF upheld the gender perspective so far? What achievements has it made in ‘gender mainstreaming’ of government policies? Has there been inconsistency depending on the administration’s orientation or the minister’s stance appointed from that administration’s camp?

When discussions about abolishing MOGEF arise, voices opposing it are loud within women’s groups regardless of conservative or progressive views. But is it enough to simply preserve MOGEF as it currently is? Is the reason the presidential pledge to create a Gender Equality Committee was abandoned solely due to the Blue House’s change of heart? If we talk about dividing positions, other government ministries that use 99.8% of the budget have even more intense internal competition among men from the same camp than MOGEF.

So why has MOGEF been mocked as a department that divides positions among ‘women from the camp’? Has it shown efforts to consider alternatives that can sustain the value of the women’s movement regardless of the administration? Moreover, when turning attention to ‘family,’ MOGEF’s situation is nothing but shabby.

There is a legal basis as the department in charge of family policy with the ‘Framework Act on Healthy Families.’ However, most family policy-related tasks are handled by other ministries. Care support is the responsibility of the Ministry of Employment and Labor (parental leave, etc.) and the Ministry of Health and Welfare (daycare centers), and the Ministry of Education (kindergartens). Support for childcare costs such as child allowances and parental leave benefits is also managed by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Employment and Labor. Social services supporting families are also overseen by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and others.

Considering the growing importance of family policy, there is a need to reorganize the scattered policy areas and restructure the department in charge. However, it is difficult to find any mention of the shabby family policy department in calls for abolition.

Abolishing MOGEF is not something that should happen in reverse. A sustainable structure for promoting gender mainstreaming regardless of the administration’s interests must be created. This should be followed by considerations for reorganizing government departments capable of overseeing the family policy sector, which involves tens of trillions of won. Without such considerations, if MOGEF remains as it is, the ‘abolish vs. maintain’ debate will repeat again someday. What do you want?