"Transfer of Ministry of Gender Equality Tasks to Ministry of Health and Welfare" VS "Need to Establish Ministry of Gender Equality, Family, and Youth"

On the 5th, a forum titled "Abolition of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, What Are the Alternatives?" was held at the National Assembly Members' Office Building, hosted by the Council of Women's Organizations and Representative Yoon Sang-hyun's office.

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[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] Debates continue over the direction of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (MOGEF) restructuring. Although a discussion forum on the alternative of abolishing MOGEF was held by the conservative camp, the voices of opposition from experts only grew louder.

On the 5th, Professor Hong Seong-geol of the Department of Public Administration at Kookmin University delivered the keynote speech at a forum hosted by the Women's Organizations Council and Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun of the People Power Party. He stated, "After abolishing MOGEF, youth and family affairs should be transferred to the Ministry of Health and Welfare," and proposed collaborating with the Ministry of Justice on some tasks as an alternative.

Professor Hong continued, "A Gender Equality Committee should be established and operated as one of the private cooperation committees under the Presidential Office," adding, "Gender equality, family policy, and rights protection, separated from other fields, have shown limited results. We need to maximize outcomes by promoting women's policies and gender equality within a comprehensive policy framework that includes welfare, labor, birth, and family."

He cited the background of the controversy over MOGEF's existence as political parties exploiting gender conflicts for vote-winning strategies, changes in realistic policy demands, and alliances between interest group politics and bureaucratic interests. Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun said, "Considering the significance, public interest, and influence of the MOGEF issue in this presidential election, it might be necessary to consider a sizable German-style model with one minister and three vice ministers to address gender equality issues more deeply."

Opposition voices continued among experts attending the discussion.

Cha In-soon, adjunct professor at the Korea Institute of Legislative Studies and former senior expert of the National Assembly's Gender Equality and Family Committee, pointed out, "If functions are transferred to the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family, it is obvious that these will become 'side tasks.' The Ministry of Health and Welfare is already bloated," adding, "The transition team proposed reorganizing inefficient committees, but establishing a new committee is contradictory." He further stated, "A new ministry that protects families and responds to various social issues should be established, such as a Ministry of Gender Equality, Family, and Youth or Ministry of Family, Youth, and Gender Equality."

Lee Bok-sil, former vice minister of MOGEF, said, "If MOGEF's tasks are absorbed by other ministries, equality tasks may be diluted, and transferring victim protection tasks such as sexual violence and domestic violence to the Ministry of Justice, which focuses on punishing perpetrators, could neglect victim rights protection from a gender perspective," explaining, "While maintaining the paradigm shift of women's policy to gender equality, we need to seek ways to improve policy efficiency by consolidating functions and policies by topic and target."

Professor Lee Soo-jung of the Department of Criminal Psychology at Kyonggi University, who served as co-chair of the People Power Party's joint election committee, said, "If a new department is established, gender equality policies should be handled by the Gender Equality Committee, while new agendas for Korea's future, such as population policy, suicide prevention, and child abuse prevention, need to be discovered," adding, "More substantial family support policies are also necessary."

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