************************************************************** The material posted here was provided to the Division for the Advancement of Women by the Government in response to a note verbale. It is being made available in electronic format in the form received. In cases where it was not possible at this time to reproduce charts and tables supplied, these can be obtained by contacting the Division for the Advancement of Women directly. ************************************************************** TEN POLICY PRIORITIES FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF KOREAN WOMEN -A FOLLOW-UP TO THE 4TH WORLD CONFERENCE ON WOMEN Ministry of Political Affairs - REPUBLIC OF KOREA On October 11, 1995, a month after the 4th World Conference on Women in Beijing, the Committee for Globalization Policy, a consultative body to the President, came out with its recommendation of ten medium and long-term policy priorities for women. They provide the framework for the government plan of action to facilitate the participation and advancement of women in the Korean society. The goals and the related policy areas are: I. To provide the social environment in which women can be free from domestic chores (1, 2 & 3) II. To set in place institutional support for women's employment (4, 5 & 6) III. To develop women's ability to work outside the home and their access to information (7 & 8) IV. To strengthen the social milieu that discourages gender discriminatory practices and perceptions (9 & 10) I . LIFTING THE BURDEN OF DOMESTIC LABOR 1 = Expansion of Child-Care Facilities through Mobilization of Private Resources 1. Child-care coops The cooperative set-up, in which parents become directly involved in the establishment and management of the child-care facilities, has proven to be effective in controlling the quality of care and education and adapting to changes in enrollment. For this, - 30 to 40 families with young children pool the financial resources to rent or purchase the space for the nursery to enroll their children and directly manage its daily operation; and - the investment is returned to the coop members when their children become old enough to no longer require its service. (The first coop opened in Yonnam-dong in Seoul in August 1994. Four others have opened since.) To attract maximum participation in the coop and to assist in their management and restructuring, institutional support, such as loans for renting space,will be offered. The necessary funds will be raised from the National Pension Fund, in the amount for 1.3 trillion won for the 3-Year Child-care Facility Expansion Plan. 2. Utilizing religious facilites With some government assistance, the religious establishments nationwide can become ideal child-care centers. To promote this option, - the limits placed on the religious use of child-care facilities will be eased, and the administrative paper work will be simplified; and - the ceiling on government subsidy for child-care facilities will be increased (from the current 25 million won to 50 million won per establishment) to encourage religious groups to sign up. The necessary funds will be also met from the aforementioned 1.3 trillion won fund. Under the 3-Year Child-care Facility Expansion Plan, - 2,100 religious establishments are expected to open child-care facilities in 1996-1997. 2 = After-School Care Programs After-school care programs for primary schoolers, currently limited to a few private schools, will be expanded nationwide. Key features of this program will be - making maximum use of the available community facilites such as schools and community centers; and - mobilizing certified teachers awaiting appointment, as well as mothers with a certain level of educational background after receiving the required training, to instruct the children. This is to be accomplished step-by-step with - a two-month experimental period (Oct 20 - Dec 20, l 995) to identify the necessary preparations and the extent of required assistance; - the drawing up of the legal basis on which to place the responsibilities in the running of public and private facilities for after-school care programs; and - the cost to be met primarily by the beneficiaries, with the government providing minimum subsidy for program development and personnel assistance. 3 = School Meals School meals program will be expanded to all primary schools by the end of 1997. The necessary fund will come from the education budget of local governments. A system of cooperation among the related government offices are being worked out for the school meals program. II. INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT FOR WOMEN'S EMPLOYMENT 4 = Setting a Target Percentage for Women's Participation in Public Service Flexibility (to say, a quota system), will be added to the recruitment screening in 5th and 7th class (middle-level) public administration service and 5th class foreign service so as to increase the percentage of women recruits. The methods will include giving an incentives of, say, 3 to 5 extra points to female candidates. This system allows the women who fall short of the passing grade only by 3 points(5th) or 5 points (7th) to be employed in order to achieve the quota. The quota will increase annually; 10 %, in 1996, 13 % in 1997, 15 % in 1998, 18 % in 1999 and 20 % in 2000. The ceiling on female recruits at the Taxation College, the Police Academy, the Railway Junior College, and other educational institutions educating civil servants will be raised toward an ultimate phase-out: from the current 11 % of new admissions to 20% in 1997, 30 %in 1998, and 50 % in the year 2000 for the Taxation College; from the current 3 % to 50% by 1999 for the Railway Junior College; and from the current 4% to 10% or above after 1997 for the Police Academy. Women's participation in various government committees will be increased to 30(MO by 2005. It means to increase women's participation in decision-making process. 5 = Incentives for Recruitment of Women at Public Enterprises State-run or subsidized enterprises will also introduce an incentive system to recruit more women: - in the written test, female applicants will be awarded the same 5 extra points given to male applicants who have finished military service; and - measures will be worked out so that female applicants who passed the written test will not face disadvantage without due reason in the interview. 6 = Social Sharing of Maternity Protection Cost As the sixty-days paid maternity leave tends to discourage employers from hiring women, the National Welfare Planning Board is actively seeking ways for the public sector to share the cost. The child-care leave allowance paid from the Employment Insurance Fund, now applied to workplaces with over 70 employees, will be extended to include workplaces with over 50 employees by 1998 and to those with five or more in the long-run. III. DEVELOPING WOMEN'S ABILITY AND INFORMATION ACCESS 7 = Expanding Education and Training for Women's Employment Keeping in step with the changing needs of society in the information age, vocational training in the regular secondary education curricula will be diversified and strengthened. For example, - girls' liberal arts and commercial high schools will be encouraged to change into specialty schools in industrial design, computer science, etc; - assistance will be offered to the opening of new engineering high school for girls and to the existing boys' or girls' schools for turning co-ed; - women's universities will be encouraged to establish science and engineering colleges, and the student enrollment for departments and majors particularly suited to women's abilities and characteristics will be increased; and - an office in charge of women's education will be established within the Ministry of Education. To promote the reemployment of women who had stopped working due to child-birth and child-care, job training programs will be strengthened by - opening short-term job training programs for married women at public vocational training institutes; - giving subsidies to such institute from the Employment Insurance Fund; and - strengthening the programs of the various community facilities and women's welfare centers 8 = Women's Information Networks A women's information center will be established at the Korean Women's Development Institute to strengthen women's access to information. Communication linkages between national and local community facilities and women's welfare centers will set up. The long-term plan is to compile a comprehensive data base concerning women, to be linked to information super-highway networks for easy access from anywhere in the country and beyond. IV. STRENGTHENING THE SOCIAL MILIEU AGAINST DISCRIMINATION 9 = Women's Development Act To enhance women's social status and to ameliorate the outdated discriminatory practices and perceptions against women in society, the Women's Development Act passed in Dec. 1995. The Act - spells out the basic principles guiding the policies for women's advancement; and - provides the legal basis on which to rectify gender discriminatory factors in employment, education, social welfare, human rights, and other areas of national life. 10 = Mass Media Women's participation in the mass media-related decision-making process will be increased, and the cooperation of the media will be enlisted in the efforts to correct discriminatory perceptions. Specifically, - women's presence in the various committees overseeing the broadcasting field will be increased to 30 % by 2005; - objective standards to evaluate gender-based stereotypes in mass media will be worked out; and - the production and distribution of public advertisement dealing with women's issues will be expanded. Institutional & Financial Arrangements To promote these ten policy priorities for women, the needed legal amendments will be completed by the first half of 1996. The related financial requirements will be reflected in the government budget for 1996 to 1998. The Ministry of Political Affairs ( II ), national focal point for the advancement of women, will coordinate and integrate the efforts of the related government ministries, with the Office of the Prime Minister reviewing and monitoring progress. For successful implementation, the cooperation and participation of citizens are crucial. Thus, close consultation with women's NGOs and the public sector will be sought.