Republic of Korea-28th Session November 2017-Gender equality

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 31) The Framework Act on Gender Equality stipulates that in the case the state and local governments organize committees, any particular gender shall not exceed 60 percent of the number of members commissioned. This provision has been incorporated in several other laws and regulations. The average proportion of female members of government committees exceeds 40 percent as of 2021. In February 2021, the MOGEF made efforts to make gender mainstreaming policies by establishing a specialized evaluation committee within the Gender Responsive Budget and Settlement Council to strengthen preliminary deliberation. In May 2020, the Government amended the Framework Act on Gender Equality to designate “Gender Equality Salary Day” and provide a legal basis for publicizing relevant statistics. In addition, it conducted mass media monitoring and developed customized gender equality training content for media, media workers and public officials. Para 32) The Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act stipulates the principle of equal pay for equal work and has a provision to impose punishment upon gender discrimination in wages. The Government conducts intensive supervision of the operation status of the system to support gender equality in employment and work-family balance every year, including equal pay for equal work. To counter gender discrimination in employment, the Government operates the Affirmative Action (AA) which requires business operators to submit the status of male and female workers and managers every year to induce them to voluntarily fulfill the female employment standards, and the target business operators have been continuously expanded to include workplaces with 500 workers or more (including workplaces with 300 workers or more in the group of corporations subject to disclosure), all public institutions and local public corporations. From 2017, the list of business operators who failed to fulfill were announced. The entire business operators subject to AA should submit the status of gender wage gap and the cause analysis, and support services for poor workplaces are strengthened. Para 33) The Government has operated a mentoring program for young women to help them in various fields of society explore career paths with female leaders and receive support for social advancement and contributed to the creation of women-friendly jobs by finding and supporting future social enterprises in the field of women, family and adolescents. To prevent career interruption of women, the Government has continuously increased the number of the employment support institution for women. Since 2018, career interruption prevention service has been provided to support career development for women and their adaptation to the workplace and to promote the improvement of corporate culture. As the Act on Promotion of Economic Activities of Career-Interrupted Women was amended to the Act on Promotion of Economic Activities of Women and Prevention of Career Interruption (enforced in June 2022) to strengthen support for prevention of career interruption by expanding the target and scope of the policies, newly inserting the provision defining “the prevention of career interruption” and expanding the scope of projects. By publishing the status investigation of the economic activities of women and the white paper and collecting and providing employment and recruiting information, the Government laid the foundation for support for female employment. Para 34) As a result of establishing and managing a plan to enhance female representation in the public sector (2018-2022), the Government achieved 10% of executives, 24.4% of directors, and 22.5% of executives in public institutions as of 2021. In the private sector, the Government implemented a gender-balanced and inclusive growth partnership project to improve gender balance within the company, providing voluntary agreements, research, and consultation to support the enhancement of gender equality. As a result, the ratio of female executives in listed corporations increased from 4.0% in 2019 to 5.2% in 2021. To enhance female representation in the NA, when a political party recommends a candidate for the proportional representative, female candidates should account for at least 50%. Women should be recommended for every odd number in the list of candidates. Subsidies for a political party are decided based on the ratio of the recommended female candidates. In April 2018, the act was amended so that when the recommendation ratio and rank for female candidates are not fulfilled, the application for registration of candidates shall not be accepted. Para 35) Workers can take up to one year of parental leave to raise children aged eight or under or in the second grade of elementary school or under, and the Employment Insurance Funds pays for the parental leave. To induce more male workers to take parental leave, the upper limit of the father’s parental leave bonus (salary support) was increased. The Employment Insurance Funds provide support for maternity leave for themselves, maternity leave for spouses, reduction in working hours during childrearing, etc. Maternity leave for spouses was increased from five days (three days of paid leave) to ten paid days, and the benefits system for maternity leave for spouses was established to support pay for the first five days for the companies subject to preferential support. The period for reducing working hours during childrearing was expanded to two years, including the period for parental leave, and the pay was increased. The pay for maternity leave has also been increased in stages. The Government has operated the “family-friendly certification system.”to certify companies and public institutes operating an exemplary system supporting childbirth, childrearing, flexible working hours, etc. The State supports business operators installing and operating a workplace childcare center to expand such facilities, preventing career interruption due to the burden of childcare and promoting work-family balance. Para 45) … The Women’s Saeil Centers across the nation provide employment support services, vocational training, and internships to facilitate the employment of marriage migrant women and to make them financially independent.