Anti-discrimination Committee told of adverse effects of economic crisis on situation of women in Republic of Korea, officials say government efforts to promote equality impeded by unemployment, corporate restructuring, other factors

Committee on Elimination of
Discrimination against Women
Nineteenth Session
399th Meeting (AM)

WOM/1069
7 July 1998


The economic crisis in the Republic of Korea was undercutting advances made by the Government to promote women's equality, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women was told this morning.

The Chairperson of the country's Presidential Commission on Women's Affairs, Hoo-Jung Yoon, was addressing the Committee as it met to consider the combined third and fourth periodic reports of the Republic of Korea on its implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women.

The economic crisis and the ensuing potential for massive unemployment and poverty was straining families, she continued. Rates of domestic violence and divorce were likely to increase, while low-income female-headed households faced the risk of impoverishment. The Government was acting to strengthen social safety nets and prevent the breakdown of the family unit.

Also negatively affecting women was corporate restructuring, by which female workers became buffers against structural changes arising from the Government's agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), she said. Measures were in effect to protect female employees working in atypical employment situations, and prevent them from being dismissed before men without due cause. A new employment act, going into effect in 1999, would protect them further.

Despite vigorous efforts to promote gender equality, the Republic of Korea's "entrenched Confucian ideology" still hindered the realization of gender equality, the Committee was told. There were discriminatory elements in laws and traditional practices, such as in the patriarchal system of family inheritance. Women were participating in society more fully than ever before, but the political arena was essentially a "gentleman's club". The Government programme was aimed at abolishing those remnants.

Part of the Government's wide range of measures to address women's rights were steps taken to address the sexual slavery imposed by the military forces of the former colonial Power of Japan, the Committee was told. Monthly support grants were provided to the victims and $26,000 had been allocated to each victim to promote self-healing.

The Committee was also addressed this morning by the Commissioner of the Presidential Commission on Women's Affairs, Chang Pol-Whan, and the Commission's Director-General for Policy Planning and Coordination, Chang Sung-Ja.

The Committee will meet again at 3 p.m. today, to continue considering the combined third and fourth periodic reports of the Republic of Korea.

Committee Work Programme

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women met this morning to consider the Republic of Korea's compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. It had before it that country's third and fourth periodic reports of 27 September 1995 and 30 March 1998. Since the Government's ratification of the Convention in 1984, all but two of its reservations, pertaining to the right to choose one's surname, have been withdrawn.

Since the submission of its second report in 1989, the Government has introduced far-reaching measures for the advancement of women with the central objective of realizing an egalitarian society, the third periodic report states. In that connection, major policies have evolved aimed at strengthening the administrative infrastructure for women's affairs, revising and/or introducing laws and where necessary, modifying the legal system itself in support of gender equality, and breaking down the prejudices against women deeply ingrained in Korean culture.

The report draws attention to the establishment in 1988 of the Ministry of Political Affairs (II) for women, which has full authority to coordinate all governmental and non-governmental activities aimed at advancing the status of women and to propose measures in that regard. Numerous administrative units headed by women and charged with family and women's affairs were established in some of the major cities, provinces, and many other localities. Moreover, since 1993, the Administration has appointed more women ministers to government posts.

The report details the Government's compliance with the Convention, highlighting a number of key legislative changes. These include women's right to head a family, something previously unthinkable in the country's heavily Confucian cultural context, and the removal of male privileges in the areas of inheritance and property tax assessment laws. The 1958 version of the Family Law contained many traditional elements contrary to the principle of gender equality, especially with regard to marriage, divorce and inheritance.

In order to implement measures for the advancement of women in a systematic and coordinated manner as part of the country's overall development efforts, those initiatives were incorporated into the Government's Five-Year Plan for the New Economy (1993-1997), providing concrete policies and programmes on women to be implemented by the relevant government authorities. Such issues as education, employment, culture and social action, social welfare and international cooperation aimed at promoting women's status have been given priority attention by the Korean Government.

Other measures aimed at improving the status of Korean women include: the establishment in 1983 of a National Committee on Women's Policies; the creation in the same year of the Korean Women's Development Institute; the passage in January 1994 of a law punishing sexual offenders, protecting
victims of sexual assault, and requiring the State to attempt to prevent violent sexual crimes and to protect its victims; the establishment of the National Committee for the Guidance of Prostitutes and related counselling centres for women in all the major cities; strengthening gender-sensitive education at all levels of schooling, as well as strengthening regulations on mass media to prohibit sexually provocative and/or violent content; legal supervision and prosecution of employment-related discrimination against women; and development of vocational training programmes.

The report details the revisions made in 1990 to the Korean Family Law. A legal ground was created for recognizing women's household labour as an economic contribution assessable in market terms. Measures to reflect the new law in pertinent tax and insurance-related laws and regulations are in preparation. Until recently, it had not occurred to decision-makers to attach market values to such work, and as a consequence, not only women's economic contributions but their worth as human beings tended to be grossly underestimated. The revised law also recognizes a woman's right to family property in the event of divorce.

In the area of women's health, the report notes the prohibition by the Criminal Code of abortion, which leads to fines or imprisonment for both the women who have abortions and those who perform them. Exceptions are made in such cases where the pregnancy and delivery would endanger the life of the child, where it is the result of rape or where one or both of the spouses were carriers of communicable diseases, as stipulated in the Presidential decree. The Government undertakes sex education projects for youths and seeks to prevent abortion by distributing accurate knowledge on contraception.

The report also finds that despite the decline since the 1970s of the rural population, statistics show a marked increase in rural women's workload. In that respect, the Government trains some 5,000 rural women each year in the use of agricultural machinery. With their increased need for secondary incomes, rural women have access to many work projects such as the production of indigenous crafts, arts and food items, and processing agricultural raw materials.

The country's fourth periodic report addresses issues raised during the Committee's review of the second report and covers major initiatives undertaken between 1995 and 1998 to implement the Convention, particularly through the introduction and enactment of legislative and institutional measures. Since the submission of its third report, the Government has focused its gender policies on realizing an egalitarian society wherein women are respected and can participate in all realms of national life on an equal basis with men, fully utilizing their capabilities.

The report states that national machinery to monitor and coordinate women's policy has expanded considerably, and there is effective coordination between the responsible agencies. The National Committee on Women's Policy, chaired by the Prime Minister, has been strengthened and non-governmental representation therein has widened. In 1994, the Government established women's focal points in all its ministries in order to effectively pursue women's goals and objectives. In the same year, the National Assembly established the Special Committee on Women to facilitate
implementation of gender-related legislation.

A comprehensive five-year basic plan in women's policies (1998-2002) is currently being prepared, the report notes, and local bodies at all levels are formulating their plans within the overall framework of the basic plan, thereby developing a nationwide infrastructure to realize national and international mandates. The Government realizes that without cooperation and pressure from non-governmental organizations it cannot effectively implement its policies for women. Accordingly, it plans tostrengthen those ties.

Many gender discriminatory elements have been removed from various existing laws, and others have been newly enacted. For example, following the 1990 amendment to the Family Law, which provided a new legal framework for establishing egalitarian relationships within the family unit, the Family Registry Act, the Inheritance Tax Act and the Domestic Dispute Litigation Act, among others, were amended in accordance with the revised Family Law.

In addition, the report notes that the Punishment of Sexual Violence and Protection of Victim Act of 1993, and the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Protection of the Victim Act, a new law, came into force in 1998. In 1995, the Basic Law for the Advancement of Women was adopted and genderdiscriminatory elements were removed from the Nationality Act in November 1997. As a direct result of that amendment, one of Korea's two remaining reservations to the Convention, concerning the equal right of men and women to acquire, change or retain their nationality, will soon be withdrawn. Only the reservation concerning gender discrimination in marital and family matters will remain.

A variety of materials were developed to inform the Korean public about the substance of the Convention, the report states. The text of eight international conventions related to women were published in their original and translated versions, as were annotations on the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and information on the Committee. These materials are being utilized by public employee training institutions and various social education establishments to sensitize personnel such as public prosecutors, police officers, prison administrators and guards, and others concerned with human rights issues, with particular emphasis on gender equality.

The report finds that the most serious "stumbling block" to gender equality and women's participation in decision-making positions are male-centred institutional practices and decision-making structures in social, economic and political domains. Additional factors within this overall framework are: entrenched paternalistic and authoritarian male values; traditional notions of gender roles internalized by women themselves; alienation from the socio-economic mainstream that has led to isolation from the information mainstream as well; and the underdevelopment of women's leadership capabilities and opportunities, which are essential
if they are to assume major decision-making positions.

The report draws attention to the Family Law, in force since January 1991, which represents "a radical departure" from its predecessor. It places men and women "on an almost" equal status and provides a legal framework for evolving a family system and tradition based on a truly gender-equal relationship between marital partners. Currently, an effort is under way to root out the remaining discriminatory elements of the Family Law. That review will likely serve to abolish the remarriage prohibition period and the "family head" system.

The report recalls the protracted, intense debate surrounding the prohibition of marriage between a man and a woman of an identical ancestry, which was finally ruled inconsistent with the Constitution in July 1997. As a result, the clause pertaining to the prohibition was to be amended no later than December 1998 and would lose effect after January 1999. Thus, what once was valid in the traditional agrarian society with an extended family system governed by patriarchal/authoritarian values was found to be contrary to the provisions of the current Constitution.

The new Gender Equality Promotion Committee is developing guidelines to apply to both the public and private sectors. Other initiatives cited in the report were the action in March 1997, by Korean military academies, to include women in the military in various professional capacities; and the increased admission rate for women in such specialized training institutions as the Police Academy, the Rail Transportation College, and the Tax Affairs Institute. Also, the Prostitution Prevention Act now covers both men and women partners in the sex trade.

As part of its follow-up to the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women, the Government identified 10 priority concerns in October 1995 and has embarked on their implementation, the report states. Among the new initiatives has been the expansion of childcare facilities, the universalization of a school lunch programme, the introduction of a public sector female employment incentive system, and the promotion of gender equality through the mass media. In a definitive move to redress gender imbalances among public sector employees, the Government instituted a female public employee target system which allows a set ratio of women to be recruited into the public sector each year regardless of the ratio of women who passed competitive public employee examinations.

Two major legal instruments have been put in place to address the problem of human trade in Korea, the report finds. Moreover, implementation of recent measures to root out sexual violence is under way. These include measures to eliminate violence from the mass media and impose more stringent controls on the dissemination of such materials, expand domestic violence prevention centres, create temporary shelters and strengthen the reporting and response system. The Special Act for the Punishment of Domestic Violence provides for a special criminal proceeding for domestic violence cases among other things.

Concerning the issue of the forced induction into sexual service of women for Japanese soldiers during the Second World War, the report states that the Korean Government has called for a rigorous investigation into its historical truth and endeavours to seek a just solution for the victims of such unspeakable barbarism. To promote self-healing, under a law enacted in 1993, women victims, or "comfort women", are entitled to monthly livelihood and medical assistance, as well as priority on long-term housing rentals in the case of such homeless women. To date, 155 women have benefited from these provisions.

The report also discusses the relationship between education and employment. Although the rates of girls and boys graduating junior high and high schools is nearly 100 per cent, and the proportion of women receiving college degrees has increased considerably, there is still a gender discrepancy in access to employment. The Government has acted to assist women in that dual role as wives/mothers and workers, providing childcare leave for working women with children under one year-old and offering grants to employers who rehire women returning to the workforce
following marriage, childbirth and childcare.

Korea's sustained pursuit of industrialization policies since the 1960s has brought about a rapid decrease in the rural population, the report states. That decrease has feminized agricultural work and resulted in an increase in women's contribution to agricultural production. Medical insurance, childcare facilities and government-subsidized vehicles to transport children to and from the centres, have been introduced.

The ratio of women skilled in the use of agricultural machinery is still very low, the report continues, so their burden of physical labour remains heavy. To address the issue, agricultural guidance centres across the country are training women in such methods and rural women are also being trained in such areas as food processing and storage, and management of household accounts.

Introduction of Report

HOO-Jung YOON, Chairperson of the Presidential Commission on Women's Affairs, introduced the combined third and fourth periodic reports of the Republic of Korea on implementing the Convention on the Elimination of All Discrimination against Women. The reports covered the period 1990 to 1998. She said the work of a consultative committee consisting of representatives from 25 non-governmental organizations and seven women's policy specialists, had facilitated the Government in actions to promote gender-equality in the context of the Convention's articles.

As noted in the report, she said, the Family Law was amended in 1990 and the Punishment of Sexual Violence and Protection of Victims Act was passed in 1993. In 1995, a Women's Development Act was passed and, in 1997, the Nationality Act was amended and an Act was passed on domestic violence. Since February, the Government's new administration had made the promotion of women's rights an integral part of human rights. The policy priority was aimed at creating a society that guaranteed gender-equal participation and division of responsibilies in all political, social, economic and cultural spheres.

A five-year master plan for developing women's opportunities and preparing women to meet the changing socio-economic environment of the twentyfirst century had been developed, she said. The plan included 20 policy priorities and 147 specific programmes. Elements of that plan included the formulation and implementation of women's policies into the national policy agenda; expanding women's presence in all aspects of society involving national development; increasing cooperation with non-governmental organizations to mobilize women's leadership capabilities and promote their participation in politics; and enhance the quality of life for women in underdeveloped areas.

To facilitate implementation of the policies, the high-level Presidential Commission on Women's Affairs was established to replace the Ministry of Political Affairs, and serve as an advisory body to the President. It also acted to formulate policy and initiate research on genderdiscriminatory practices and remedies.

She said a significant step had been taken with regard to the longstanding and contentious issue of sexual slavery imposed by the military forces of the former colonial Power of Japan. The Government provided monthly support grants to the Republic of Korea's victims of the heinous crimes. Funds in the amount of $26,000 were allocated in May to each victim to promote selfhealing. She then described Government efforts to conform national policies with the Platform for Action adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995). The Government had identified 10 policy priorities for the advancement of women, including expansion of childcare facilities and the establishment of a women's information network. In 1995, the Women's Development Act was enacted to consolidate a legal basis for measures in support of women's participation and equality at all social levels. Also, the Government had instituted an employee target system to facilitate female recruitment to the public sector and double the rate to 20 per cent
in 2000.

In November 1997, the Nationality Act was amended to remove discriminatory provisions, she said. The 1997 Prevention of Domestic Violence and Protection of the Victim Act charged State and local autonomous bodies with creating legal and institutional mechanisms to prevent domestic violence and protect victims, she said. Various initiatives would be undertaken to enhance public awareness on gender-equality, focusing on narrowing the gap between de facto and de jure equality.

She said women in the Republic of Korea faced particularly difficult realities due to the country's economic crisis, and the related implementation of programmes supported by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Government programmes to enhance women's economic activities had emerged to prevent the impoverishment of women.

Childbearing and childcare commitments were some of the primary reasons for the shortfall in the number of working women aged 25-34, she said. That phenomenon was further exacerbated by the lack of facilities to support women's employment, such as workplace day-care and vocational training. The absence of those facilities had left a large portion of women's potential untapped. Women's full participation in the workplace had not proceeded as rapidly as hoped. In 1997, women held only 0.7 per cent of senior positions in the country's top 50 corporations.

She said an additional obstacle to women's presence in the job market related to job security, the result of corporate restructuring. Many companies used female workers as a buffer against fluctuations in the work cycle, incurred by structural changes arising from the Republic of Korea's agreement with the IMF. To curb this practice, the Government had issued ordinances providing serious penalties to companies that dismissed women before men without due cause.

The Republic of Korea's economic crisis and the ensuing potential for massive unemployment and poverty would place extra strains on families, she said. Instances of domestic violence and divorce were likely to increase. Also, low-income female-headed households would almost certainly become impoverished. To address those problems, the Government would strengthen social safety nets and act to prevent the breakdown of the family unit.

Despite the fact that women were now participating in society more fully than ever before, the political arena was essentially a "gentleman's club", she said. Women's participation in politics must be increased to enhance their social status and further the country's overall democratic development.

While the Republic of Korea's "entrenched Confucian ideology" still hindered the complete realization of gender-equality, she said, it was only a matter of time before the traditions of the past gave way to a new era of full gender equality, representative democracy, and shared prosperity. In
its long history, the Republic of Korea had pulled together during the best and worst of times, in part due to the efforts of its women, working behind the scenes. Now, with equal protection under the law, women in the Republic of Korea would be contributing partners in the process of nation-building.

Response to Questions

CHANG POL-WHAN, Commissioner of the Presidential Commission on Women's Affairs, said the Commission was the coordinating body with regard to measures relating to the Covenant's first three articles. The Constitution provided for equality. Women had various courses of action in cases of de jure or de facto discrimination.

Nevertheless, discriminatory elements remained in laws and traditional practices, and the Government was working to abolish them, she said. Those included the prohibition of marriage between parties with surnames or origins in common, the provision that only a husband could bring action to deny paternity, and the requirement of a six-month wait before a woman could remarry. The most feudal of such practices was the patriarchal system of family inheritance, which had been weakened but which the Government was viewing to completely abolish.

She said a Labour Standards Law was in the process of being revised and a new law to be enacted in 1999 would extend protections for women in the workplace. By the year 2001, there would be equal-rights regulations with regard to wages, holidays, protection of minors, compensations for industrial accidents and disability.

A legislative device for compulsory dissemination of guidelines to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace had yet to be created. The inclusion of a women's section in the Government's Economic and Social Development Plan indicated the commitment to integrate a gender perspective into the national development context and it recognized the linkage between the two.

She said the low participation of women in the public sector was related to inadequate support from the Government, and social misconceptions regarding women's abilities. The President had committed to increasing the number of female officials in the public sector up to 30 per cent, and to taking other measures to ensure that women fill key policy-making positions.

Turning to questions on the article relating to cultural practices that lead to stereotypes and discrimination, she said de facto discrimination against women was inherited through traditional cultural practices. For example, paternalistic and authoritarian male values were entrenched, while traditional notions of gender roles were internalized by women, which inhibited their participation in institutions and decision-making structures in social, economic and political domains. The Government was working to make gender equality a reality, through economic evaluation of women's household work, formulation of gender-equal curricula and raising awareness through mass media.

Based on the recognition that all forms of violence against women were violations of human rights, the Government had introduced measures to provide temporary protection facilities and counselling services to female victims, she said.

Turning to the question of the suppression of the traffic in and exploitation of women, she said there were 5,218 female prostitutes, according to national statistics. They accounted for 17 of the country's 776 HIV patients. Until recently, most prostitutes and clients were not subject to strict imposition of punishment. However, guidelines for the punishment of clients of prostitutes under age were introduced in 1998, while most of those young persons were returned home instead of being institutionalized.

As for the question of women in public and private life, she said women's voting rights were guaranteed in the same way as those of men. To systematically mainstream gender perspectives into development planning, the Government had made efforts to increase women's participation in various governmental bodies. Recently, the Presidential Commission on Women's Affairs had become involved in local autonomous elections, asking parties to allocate more than 50 per cent of the proportional representation seats to women. As a result, 38 per cent of the seats had gone to women.

To increase women's presence in politics, laws and institutions had to be revised, and the identification and education of women politicians should be expanded, she said.

With regard to articles on foreign service, nationality and education, she said there was no discrimination against women's participation in international organizations and in the foreign service. To the contrary, the Government encouraged such participation. Before the 1997 amendment of the Nationality Act, women and children had no right to choose their own nationalities but had to follow their husbands' or fathers' choice, she said. Now women could choose their own nationality and the reservation to the Convention regarding nationality was planned to be withdrawn.

She said the strong patriarchal culture of Korea had not encouraged the education of women in the past. Now the average length of education for women was equal to that of men and the Government was taking measures to increase women's enrolment.

Guidance programmes were provided to all students from secondary school onward. Teachers' gender biases had improved and female leaders in student organizations had increased, as had women's participation in physical education classes. An introductory level of sex education was provided during the first year of junior high school and sex education at the high school level was more comprehensive. Home management classes covered issues on contraception and childbirth.

CHANG SUNG-JA, Director-General for Policy Planning and Coordination of the Presidential Commission on Women's Affairs, addressed questions on article 11, discrimination against women in employment. A number of national acts protected against discrimination in employment. For a female-headed household falling into certain conditions, laws and subsidies were given to assist in employment and to cover a child's schooling and education expenses. In 1997, 22,000 persons had benefited from such programmes. To establish a social safety net for unemployed female-headed households, the Employment Insurance Act would be expanded to include companies with less than five workers.

The Republic of Korea had ratified the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention on equal remuneration for men and women workers for work of equal value, she said. It was now considering ratifying the other three ILO conventions. From 1994 to 1997, a number of improvements had been made in the situation of working women. Childcare assistance was expanded, the proportion of female trainees in public training institutions was almost doubled. For the period from 1998 to 2002, the national Basic Plan for Welfare of the Working Woman would involve job search assistance as well as help in coordinating housework and paid employment.

Under the maternity protection scheme, an employer must provide 60-day paid maternity leave to a pregnant worker, she said. However, that scheme tended to discourage employers from hiring female workers, since the costs of maternity leave were borne by the employer. Discussions on how to distribute those costs among social partners had been under way since 1996. The issue would be thoroughly reviewed when the current financial crisis subsided. A female worker or her spouse with a child under one year was allowed to take unpaid parental leave. A flexible work-hour system was available when both the worker and the employer agreed.

The Government encouraged the establishment of childcare facilities at the workplace through tax incentives and other measures, she said. The Government also provided incentives for re-employment of female workers. An employer that re-employs a female worker who left for reasons to do with marriage or maternity received financial subsidies.

The Government was taking steps to increase public awareness on gender equality in employment, she said. Also, it provided incentives to training facilities that served women. Since 1992, it had been monitoring gender restrictive recruitment advertisements and providing guidance to deter those ads.

The Republic of Korea ensured "sanitary leave", the purpose of which was to prevent women from working too much during their menstrual period, and thereby damaging their mental and physical health, she said. An employer was obligated to give a female employee a one-day monthly leave with payment, and in cases where a female worker did not use such leave, an employer should provide payment worth the unused leave.

To questions regarding pensions, she said that 307,321 older women lived below the poverty line. The Government had introduced the "respect for the aged pension system" to provide support for income maintenance of older women in need, and complement the national pension scheme. To guarantee women's pension eligibility, the Government had developed a plan which would include provisions for a pension-sharing system to secure the rights of divorced women. While the number of women receiving old-age, disability and survivor's benefits had increased, the total number of women receiving benefits under the national pension scheme had decreased.

The national medical insurance plan included public health insurance to improve health and promote social security, she said. In July 1989, coverage was extended and was now universal.