KWDI Korean Women’s Development Institute

Accomplishments of the 30-Year Efforts for Women's Integration in Social Development and an Outlook for the Future(Ⅱ): A Study on Women’s Policy for Past 30 Years and Future Plans for Its Advancement

Ai-Gyung Yang
Sun-Ju Lee
Hyun-Joo Chung
Jeong-Sook Kang
Kyong-Ju Kim
Yang-Hee Kim
Yeun-Kyung Shin 

Prior to 1980s, the initial welfare administration for women was limited by focusing on protecting war orphans and women in the 1940s and 1950s, educating children and women requiring protection in the 1960s, and managing working-women and women requiring protection in the 1970s. The paradigm of women’s policy was dramatically changed since women’s policy was officially adopted as an agenda of national policy since 1983; the changes were initiated with the establishment of the Korean Women's Development Institute (KWDI) and the Women’s Policy Review Board, a decision-making committee of women's policy at the government level, under the Prime Minister's Office. Subsequently, women’s issue has been actively discussed via multiple agencies for women’s policy, and a variety of researches and activities have been also implemented to solve the women’s issues. In the history of women’s policy of Korea, the year 2013 is chronologically meaningful with following reasons. It has been i) thirty years since the KWDI and Women’s Policy Review Board were established, ii) twenty-five years since the 2nd Ministry of State for Political Affairs was founded to deal with women's policy at the level of a central administrative agency, and iii) ten years since the Korean Institute for Gender Equality Promotion and Education was launched. In addition, it is the first year that the 4th Basic Plan for Women's Policy (2013-2017) is enforced. During the past 30 years, women’s policy has changed in relationship with characteristics of the government’s administration systems that decided and executed the policy per periods. In spite of significant relationship between the women’s policy and the government’s administration systems, no study that focused on the chronological meanings of women’s policy by dividing the past years into periods by the types of government’s administration systems, was conducted. Thus, the present study was planned to review the women’s policy for the past 30 years, to understand the chronological meanings with a viewpoint of the past administration systems. In the first-year study conducted in 2011, i) the meaning of social development in Korean society was defined, ii) the integration of women into Korean society was described; and iii) the current status of women’s policy implemented between 1983 and 2011 was reviewed by focusing on 9 categories such as politics and administration/welfare/economy/family / education/cultural and social activities/women’s organization/global affairs /peace and reunification. During the second year (2012), the study aimed i) to review how women’s policy has been implemented with consideration of policy environments and social circumstances during the past thirty years, and ii) to suggest plans to improve women’s policy in the future. As a framework analysis, women’s policy during the past thirty years was summarized and presented in a chronological table. The 30 years were divided into 5 periods in accordance with changes in administration system of women’s policy, and the policies of each period were reviewed regarding 7 factors related to the establishment and implementation of women's policy, including historical background/KWDI/national assembly/ press/policy promotion/women’s organization/global cooperation. In addition, the relationships among the factors and the changes of women’s policy during the 30 years with perspective of individual factor were also analyzed. The conclusion and suggestions of the present study include the followings. First, women’s policy will need to be publicized and be supported by the public; administrative agencies such as KWDI will take a role of communicating with the public with more responsibility. Second, women’s policy needs to be developed with consideration of men as a partner for gender equality policy; for example, the policy that capable to encourage men’s parenting is necessary for the work-life balance of women. Third, administrative agencies related to women’s policy will need to be more stable and efficient; reorganization to a government department can be an alternative to supplement current systems. Fourth, it will be necessary to discuss ways to share the experiences in developing and implementing women’s policy in Korea, as Korea is famous in international community for women’s policy. Finally, a systematic archive for women’s policy will be required to provide a wealth of information for future policy; past experiences in implementing women’s policies are expected to play a pivotal role in preparing new women’s policies in the future and women’s policy in Korea will need to take into consideration the history of women’s policy in Korea.