Ruling and Opposition Parties Raise 'Gender Issue' Again... Intensifying Conflict Between Young Men and Women in Their 20s

Yoon Reaffirms Position on Abolishing Ministry of Gender Equality
Ruling Party's Park Jihyun Co-Chair Fires Back
Concerns Over Deepening Conflict Between Young Men and Women

"Greater Social Costs" Voices Also Raised

[Asia Economy Reporters Jang Sehee and Gong Byungseon]"Even though the sentiment of women in their 20s was confirmed through this election, I feel it was ultimately ignored." (28-year-old woman A)

"The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, which belittles and mocks men, must be abolished to end gender conflict." (27-year-old man B)

The ruling and opposition parties continue to highlight gender issues daily after the presidential election, intensifying male-female conflicts. President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol reaffirmed his stance on abolishing the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family on the 13th, saying, "The ministry has fulfilled its historical mission."

On the same day, the Democratic Party of Korea appointed Park Ji-hyun, who publicized the ‘Nth Room incident,’ as co-chair of the Emergency Response Committee, filling half of the committee with people in their 20s and 30s. Women including A criticized, "President-elect Yoon has not shown a conciliatory or unifying attitude even before forming the transition team." Meanwhile, men like B support abolishing the ministry and strengthening penalties for false accusations of sexual crimes.

Such political moves have been criticized for "inciting conflict targeting a specific gender" or "dividing men and women in their 20s and 30s." According to a survey commissioned by the Korea Foundation for Patriots and Veterans Affairs to Macromill Embrain from the 3rd to 6th of this month, targeting 1,069 SNS users of all ages and genders, the most noticeably increased type of social conflict was gender conflict. Respondents rated the severity of conflict types on a 5-point scale, giving gender conflict an average of 3.92 points and generational conflict 3.85 points. As of 2021, the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Index (GGI, closer to 1 means more equality) was 0.687, ranking 102nd out of 153 countries worldwide.

Jang Pil-hwa, Professor Emeritus at Ewha Womans University, said, "The transition team is a place to organize the government while listening to many opinions," adding, "They should listen to voices from all sectors evenly and choose a path toward social integration."

Heo Min-sook, a legislative researcher at the National Assembly, said, "The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family provides multifaceted support not only for gender equality but also for families and out-of-school youth, so abolishing it could cause side effects due to the absence of such systems," and warned, "If gender conflict intensifies, greater social costs may follow."

As President-elect Yoon stated that crimes will be addressed not by dividing between women and men but focusing on specific situations experienced, there is speculation that a new crime prevention agency may be established.

President-elect Yoon has announced plans to establish a ‘Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) Headquarters’ to eradicate heinous crimes. Regarding this, researcher Heo said, "Responding to specific cases means not acknowledging that these incidents occur structurally in society," adding, "It risks dismissing the issue as an individual problem and missing the bigger picture."

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