Paju City Receives Prime Minister's Commendation as Outstanding Institution for Gender Impact Assessment

Gender Impact Assessment Policy Improvement Rate Rises from 36.8% in 2020 to 82.8% in 2024
Kim Kyoungil: "We Will Continue Policy Improvements for a Gender-Equal Paju"

Paju City in Gyeonggi Province announced on the 5th that it was selected as an excellent institution for gender impact assessment at the 2025 Gender Equality Week ceremony hosted by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family on the 4th, and received the Prime Minister's Commendation.

Paju City was selected as an excellent institution for gender impact assessment at the 2025 Gender Equality Week ceremony hosted by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family on the 4th and received the Prime Minister's Commendation. A commemorative photo is being taken. Provided by Paju City

The gender impact assessment is a system designed to realize substantive gender equality by predicting the impact of major government policies-such as laws, mid- to long-term plans, projects, and promotional materials-on different genders. If there is a possibility of gender discrimination, it systematically and comprehensively evaluates the causes and implements rational improvements.

The city explained that after enacting the "Paju City Gender Impact Assessment Ordinance" in 2014 and establishing a Gender Impact Assessment Committee composed of external experts in 2020 to improve discriminatory elements, the policy improvement rate for gender impact assessments steadily increased from 36.8% in 2020 to 82.8% in 2024. Multiple best practices were recognized, leading to the receipt of the Prime Minister's Commendation.

Outstanding examples of policy improvements through gender impact assessment in Paju City include: ▲ expanding the scope of budget support for the citizens' football team from "youth football team" to "youth and girls' football team," thereby breaking the gender stereotype that "football is a male-only sport" and ensuring budget allocation without gender discrimination; ▲ granting special leave not only to male public officials fulfilling military service obligations when their spouse or child enlists but also to female public officials serving in active duty as a result of support, thereby ensuring equal benefits; ▲ conducting demand surveys among elderly men and launching health management programs for male-specific diseases, which had the highest demand, to increase the low male beneficiary rate at the senior counseling center-thereby correcting the misconception that the gender impact assessment system is a policy only for women and excludes men.

In 2024, Paju City conducted gender impact assessments on a total of 125 policies and received positive evaluations for: ▲ enhancing female representation in various policy areas ▲ revising forms to build gender-disaggregated data ▲ expanding gender equality education for citizens to raise awareness and foster a culture of gender equality ▲ improving beneficiary criteria to ensure gender equity in program benefits ▲ and upgrading facilities by considering gender and age characteristics.

Kim Kyoungil, Mayor of Paju City, stated, "Policies to realize gender equality are not special measures only for women, but are the foundation of a basic society where the natural rights of all humans are guaranteed. We will continue to carefully review and improve our policies to ensure that no citizen experiences exclusion or discrimination from any policy."

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