Suncheon-si, the Only City in Jeollanam-do Selected as a 'Stage 2 Re-designated Women-Friendly City'

Creating an Environment Where Gender Equality Can Take Root in Citizens' Daily Lives

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Hyung-kwon] Suncheon City (Mayor Heo Seok) announced on the 22nd that it has been selected by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family as a second-phase re-designated Women-Friendly City until 2026.

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family received second-phase re-designation applications from 21 local governments nationwide this year and selected 16 of them. Suncheon City was the only city in Jeollanam-do to achieve re-designation.

Since the initial designation as a Women-Friendly City in December 2016, during the first phase period (2017?2021), the city has promoted projects such as ▲improving women's representation including the ratio of female public officials at grade 5 or higher (20%), ▲training experts in specialized local projects for women experiencing career interruptions, ▲creating safe alley infrastructure where women and children can feel secure, ▲forming village care communities ranging from generation-harmonized childcare stations to inclusive care centers, and ▲discovering and nurturing women's organizations to enhance women's participation in decision-making and capacity building.

In particular, the urban regeneration New Deal project created together with the Women-Friendly Citizen Participation Group has contributed to the creation of women-friendly spaces as a regionally specialized case. Since 2019, the citizen participation group has directly participated in resident proposal contests and alley design monitoring.

Additionally, the city was recognized for establishing a virtuous cycle structure for empowering women, activating policy participation, and spreading a culture of gender equality in the local community through ▲women's autonomous organization contest projects, ▲discovering women-friendly specialized projects by the citizen participation group, and ▲training gender experts (activists).

In the second phase of the Women-Friendly City, the city plans to complement and expand existing projects by focusing on ▲strengthening gender equality policy cooperation systems and public-private governance, ▲building resident-participatory care infrastructure, ▲expanding crime prevention infrastructure and creating safe care zones, and ▲creating spaces to revitalize women's communities. Over five years, the city aims to develop a more advanced ‘Suncheon-type Women-Friendly City Development Model.’

Mayor Heo Seok of Suncheon said, “This re-designation as a Women-Friendly City is an achievement made together with the citizens,” and added, “Taking this re-designation as an opportunity, we will strengthen the linkage between all policies promoted by Suncheon City and the Women-Friendly City from a gender-sensitive perspective.”

Meanwhile, Women-Friendly Cities are designated by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family for local governments that operate excellent policies for gender-equal participation of women and men in local policy and development processes, empowerment of women, care, and safety policies. The designation period is five years.

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