[Editorial] Must Get out of `Undeveloped Country in Female Status`

It is shameful to face the data released by the international organizations. Korea ranked at 61st out of 64 countries in the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) evaluated by United Nations Development Programme. And the survey on the ratio of female lawmakers by Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Korea (5.9 percent) was the 96th out of 120 countries. In addition to the announcement of OECD that the women`s participation in the economic activity of Korea ranked at 24th out of 31 member nations, the newly released data clearly proves that Korea is an undeveloped country in the female status.

It is true that recently more Korean women are getting participated in social activities and the female status has improved significantly. The female exclusive walls of Military Academy and the Policy Academy have been broken and first female General was born last year for the first in its history. The Ministry of Gender Equality newly launched and the motherhood protection law was legislated.

However, Korean society just began to toddle in terms of the female human rights. Women are excluded from the major process of decision making since only 5 percent of women are included in the higher-ranking officials. The discrimination against women in wages and promotion is still prevailing. The average wages of female workers are only 2/3 of male partners and the situation is getting worse by the lay-off, irregular employments, and part-time employments.

The survey of the Ministry of Gender Equality on the domestic broadcasting companies reveals the situation of gender discrimination clearly. The ratio of female new anchors was much lower than that of males. And the dramas aired by the broadcasting companies even encouraged the gender discrimination by the deep-rooted patriarchical thoughts and the prejudices about the working women.

The gender equality cannot be achieved by the legislation and the introduction of new systems only. It requires a pre-condition of the reformation of social consciousness to recognize women as human being equal to men. The paradigm of advanced countries is demanding for the female participation in society. Only when we join this stream quickly, we may be able to create an advanced society.