Imsil-gun, High-Intensity Gender Awareness Reestablishment for Sexual Harassment and Sexual Violence Prevention

Published 21 Jul.2020 18:11(KST)

Implementation of Organization-wide Preventive Education and Strengthening of Grievance Complaint Channels

Photo by Imsil-gun

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Nosik] Imsil-gun, Jeonbuk, has recently taken steps to establish high-intensity measures to redefine gender awareness in the workplace in relation to the recent allegations of sexual violence against a female public official.

On the 21st, County Governor Sim Min said at an executive meeting, “I deeply mourn the sudden death of the deceased and express my sincere condolences,” adding, “We must strengthen the complaint reporting channels that listen to and resolve various grievances, including workplace sexual harassment and sexual violence, and simultaneously conduct high-intensity preventive education.”

He also emphasized, “We will take this as an opportunity to carefully check whether there are any employees who have suffered in silence and endured pain without speaking out.”

Accordingly, considering the seriousness of the matter, the county has prepared various measures, including holding an emergency meeting for heads of departments, divisions, offices, and centers, as well as heads of towns and townships, to prevent workplace sexual harassment.

First, towns and townships will independently conduct education on procedures for handling sexual harassment and sexual violence incidents and on preventing sexual harassment, and report the results by the 31st of this month.

Additionally, within the county office, departments, divisions, offices, and centers are requested to have all employees complete mandatory cyber education on sexual harassment prevention led by department heads and report the results by the 31st of next month.

Although four-hour or longer annual education on the four major types of violence (sexual harassment, prostitution, sexual violence, domestic violence) is conducted for all employees, additional education for all employees will be expanded.

Considering the COVID-19 situation, the entire staff will be divided into two groups and invited to attend additional sexual harassment and sexual violence prevention education by a professional instructor on the 29th at the county office cultural lecture room.

The operation of “visiting grievance counselors” will also be strengthened to prevent employees from suffering harm due to lack of knowledge about grievance counseling channels or procedures.

Along with this, the Sexual Harassment Grievance Deliberation Committee, currently composed of seven members, will expand the number of external expert members from two to four, making a total of nine members, to fully activate a more fair and professional grievance deliberation committee.

Furthermore, to strengthen workplace sexual harassment prevention, additional education focusing on the importance of the role of executive public officials in eradicating workplace sexual harassment and improving managers’ awareness will be conducted for public officials at grade 5 and above.

The county has designated the head of the Women’s Policy Team and the head of the Administration Team as grievance counselors and operates a sexual harassment grievance counseling channel. It also runs a “cyber grievance counseling channel” through the administrative bulletin board, actively informing and promoting the protection of personal information and confidentiality.

An Imsil-gun official said, “With a heavy heart, we will make every effort to ensure that workplace sexual harassment and sexual violence do not occur,” adding, “Since the police are currently conducting a wide-ranging investigation, we will cooperate fully to ensure the truth is clearly revealed and take appropriate measures based on the results.”