Seoul is abolishing its equality ministry, despite a vast gender pay gap and pervasive sexism.
By Jean MackenzieWhen Yuna turned up for her first day at work, as a clerk at a major bank, she was not expecting the tasks she would be assigned. First was to make lunch for her team. Later, she was ordered to take the hand towels from the men's toilet home and wash them. These jobs fell to her, she was told, as the newest female member of staff.
What tipped her over the edge was not just the abuse, which grew steadily worse, but the lack of support from her female colleagues - those in their 20s, like her.Yuna filmed herself making lunch for her colleagues and reported her workplace to the government Upon entering office, President Yoon scrapped government gender quotas, declaring people would be hired on merit, not sex. He appointed just three women to his 19-member cabinet. He is now trying to abolish the government's Gender Equality Ministry, which supports women and victims of sexual assault, claiming it is obsolete. More than 800 organisations have come together to protest against the closure, arguing it could have a damaging impact on women's lives.
Park made her name as a student journalist, when she uncovered an online sex ring, where young teenagers were being blackmailed into filming themselves performing sexual and degrading acts. The ringleaders were sent to prison as a result of her investigation. "Women have been deprived of their rights in the past, but a lot has been resolved," says 37-year-old Lee Jun-seok, whose idea it was to close the gender equality ministry. He led the winning party into the election, helping it attract young, male votes. "Gender equality has entered a new phase. We need a new system that looks beyond feminism and focuses on the rights of all minorities.
"It was heartbreaking. I couldn't understand how a doctor running a support centre wouldn't help me," she says. "I felt like I was trapped in a dark room with no exit." A few months later she tried to kill herself.Then the gender equality ministry stepped in. They found her a place in the safe house, provided counselling and helped Ana to pursue a successful prosecution. Her professor was sent to jail.
This was the case for 50-year-old Shin Hyung-jung, who used to work as an administrator at a school. The school expected her to work on Saturdays, but didn't open their kindergarten then, meaning she had nowhere to leave her daughter. Her husband wouldn't look after the baby, so she had to quit. Women who do not want to sacrifice their careers are now simply choosing not to have children. South Korea's fertility rate has fallen to 0.81, the lowest in the world. Its population is predicted to halve by the end of the century, meaning it may not have enough people to sustain its economy and conscript into its army.
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