Gender Equality in South Korea

Here’s an article that appeared in last weekend’s Korea Times.

It was placed within the editorial on page six.

I don’t know much about laying out a newspaper, but given the exceptional importance of the topic to a large percentage of the population I would have thought that news of South Korea's slide in terms of gender equality would have warranted space on the front page.

I guess it’s a little ironic that the piece was buried deep within the paper, albeit in the editorial.

Gender Equality: Korea's Global Ranking Slides Due to Widening Gap

The nation has a long way to go to narrow the widening gender gap. On Tuesday, the Switzerland-based World Economic Forum ranked South Korea 115th in its gender equality list of 134 countries. The forum gave Korea 0.615 in the gender equality index, which is far lower than that of most Asian nations, not to mention top-ranking Western states.

Iceland won 0.827 points, taking the world's top place. Among the leading groups were Finland, Norway, Sweden, South Africa and Lesotho. The Philippines was listed 9th, emerging as the Asian leader. The United States took 31st place, while China ranked 60th and Japan 75th.

It is really disappointing that Korea's ranking has continued to fall over the past years. The country was listed 92nd in 2006, 97th in 2007 and 108th in 2008. As far as gender equality is concerned, Korea has reached the global bottom. We have to humbly accept the ranking and go all-out to bridge the gap between the sexes.

In fact, the nation has neglected its efforts to promote gender equality, while boasting of only its economic power and technological breakthroughs. Korea gained only 0.0714 in the forum's political empowerment index, the lowest level in the world. The reason is because only a small number of women take elected positions such as those of lawmakers, governors and majors.

Currently, the proportion of female legislators only stands at 13.7 percent in the 299-member National Assembly. Only two women serve as ministers, with no female governors. And a mere 3.68 percent of ranking government officials were women in 2008, a plunge from the 6.23 percent in 2006.

South Korean women also have to tolerate less economic opportunities than their male counterparts. Women's economic participation is less than half that of men and their wages are still lower than those of their male competitors.

The nation is required to make concerted efforts to improve gender equality so that it can cement its social cohesion and raise its national competitiveness. It should implement various programs to offer more and better opportunities to women in every field. The role of women is pivotal to national development in the 21st century.