Session
National Report
Para 9) … the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) is developing projects to promote the rights of vulnerable groups, including women and children, under the Mid-Term Strategy for Human Rights (2021-2025) and the Human Rights-based Development Cooperation Implementation Plan (2020-2023).
Para 27) The Government established and implemented the second Gender Equality Basic Plan (2018-2022) to eliminate discrimination against women and to promote gender equality.
Para 62) … By applying the labor relations acts to female foreign workers employed under the employment permit system, it is monitored if they are not dismissed due to pregnancy or childbirth, leave before and after childbirth, are guaranteed, and benefits for maternity leave were paid during workplace inspections.
State under Review
National Report
Stakeholder Summary
Para 5) During the presidential campaign in 2021–2022, the Korean society witnessed the escalation of gender conflict, including hatred and violent expression against women, and controversy over the abolition of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family.
Para 24) HRW reported on discrimination against women, ... Access to justice of those groups were limited.
Para 62) JS2 stated that women and girls continued to experience structural and systemic inequalities and discrimination, which have been rooted in the patriarchal social norms of the society.
Para 63) JS2 stated that women experienced gender-based discrimination in political domains. In the Parliament, women hold just 57 seats (19 percent) out of 300, which is more women in Parliament than ever before.
Para 90) JS10 noted that the visa for foreign spouses who married Korean citizens depended on whether they were maintaining a family with their spouse or raising children, and in case of divorce whether they could prove the divorce was due the spouse’s fault. Therefore, JS10 concluded that the stay of marriage-migrant women in the country depended on their Korean spouse’s will to support.
Stakeholder Summary
UN Compilation
UN Compilation
Para 44) The Special Rapporteur on housing noted that women who were divorced, separated or widowed, in particular those with children, faced increased discrimination in access to housing.
Para 63) The ILO Committee of Experts noted that a chapter on workplace harassment was included in the Labour Standards Act, in 2019. However, the Act did not apply to workplaces with fewer than five employees, and it was not possible to address harassment faced by certain non-regular workers or harassment perpetrated by persons other than the employers.
Para 91) [The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination] was concerned that the National Basic Livelihood Security System was only available to foreigners who had married a Korean citizen (“marriage migrants”) if they were pregnant, raising a child or supporting a family member of their Korean spouse. The Committee was concerned that, in the event of divorce, marriage migrants were not allowed to stay in the country unless they performed typically gendered roles.