Women's Groups Meet Minister Kim Hyun-sook, "We Expressed Deep Concerns about Abolishing the Gender Ministry, But the Minister Simply Insisted on an Optimistic Outlook"

Minister of Gender Equality and Family Kim Hyun-sook makes a comment at a meeting with major women’s organizations at the government office in Seoul on October 20. Yonhap News

Women’s groups, such as Women Link, the Korea Women’s Associations United, and the Korea Women’s Hot Line, conveyed their concerns on the abolition of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family to the minister, Kim Hyun-sook.

On the afternoon of October 20, the gender ministry held a meeting on the government restructuring plan at the government building in Seoul, with Minister Kim presiding over the meeting.

The meeting on Thursday was the second meeting with women’s groups following the first meeting on October 10. Representatives of women’s groups that had opposed the elimination of the gender ministry, such as Women Link, the Korea Women’s Associations United, the YWCA of Korea, the Korea Women’s Hot Line, the Korea Federation of Business & Professional Women, and Yi Jin-hyeong, chairperson of the Korean Woman’s Federation for Consumer attended the meeting.

Representatives of major women’s groups including Kim-Min Mun-jeong (left), head of the Korea Women’s Associations United, attend a gender ministry meeting to discuss the government restructuring plan with leaders of women’s groups at the government office in Seoul on October 20. Yonhap News

The gender ministry triggered a heated debate over “lopsided communication” after it invited women’s organizations that did not oppose the abolition of the ministry to the meeting on October 10, leaving out groups that opposed the government decision. The ministry belatedly organized a meeting with groups opposing the government restructuring after coming under fire.

Organizations that attended the meeting on October 20 voiced their concerns on the government decision to remove the gender ministry. They said to Minister Kim, “It could weaken the functions of the gender ministry and policies for gender equality,” and “We need to expand and strengthen the existing system of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family.”

As for the government’s decision to transfer the ministry’s functions to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the representatives said, “It will be difficult to maintain the gender sensitive perspective for female victims of violence, and such victims could just be treated as recipients of social welfare services.”

Minister Kim mentioned that the government was well aware of the concerns women had on the government restructuring and said, “When the government organization is restructured, gender ministry policies will be linked to policies on health and welfare and employment and labor and will be expanded and strengthened more than now.”

The meeting this day was conducted in private except for Minister Kim’s opening comment. After her opening remarks, Kim-Min Mun-jeong, head of the Korea Women’s Associations United, tried to make a statement in front of the press, but was quickly stopped.

In a press conference after the meeting, the women’s organizations complained that the gender ministry simply shared their “optimistic outlook” and did not sincerely engage in proper communication. They claimed that the ministry just gave an explanation as a formality and did not listen to opinions.

Kim Eun-gyeong said, “Minister Kim explained the government plan clearly as a formality, and the explanation was nothing new from what she had said in several interviews with the press in the past,” and added, “We confirmed that no matter what we said, we could not influence the government restructuring plan already motioned in the National Assembly.”

The leaders of five women’s organizations and the YWCA of Korea picket in front of the government building in Seoul opposing the elimination of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family ahead of a meeting on the government restructuring plan with the gender on October 20. Yonhap News

Kim-Min Mun-jeong said, “We pointed out several problems in the restructuring plan from the perspective of an organization on the field, but she only gave an abstract answer saying, ‘We will do a good job.’” She then said, “We will work to block the regression in the National Assembly.”

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said, “We finished explaining the government restructuring plan within five minutes after the meeting started, and most of the time was spent with participants making their comments and the minister answering their questions.”