This is published in She is Talking, Hee Jung Kwon’s Blog, in Nov. 2010 and translated by Heidi Un Kim and proofread by Sona Renker, volunteers of KUMSN. Please contact Han Seung Hee, kumsn@kumsn.org, if you have any questions.

Recap from the Government Inspection of the Ministry of Gender Equality

Classifications within Motherhood?

Varying Child Support Services Offered Mothers Based on Their Status

The Government Inspection of the Ministry of Gender Equality was conducted at the National Assembly on October 28th. Ms. Mok Kyunghwa, the chief of Korean Unwed Mothers Family Association, was invited to testify; thus she attended the inspection with the members of the association. I went there, too, to watch the inspection for the first time in my life.

 l  Photo 1 (Ms. Mok and the members duly studying at the inspection)

Fifteen members of the National Assembly sit on the Committee of the Ministry of Gender Equality, and the chairperson of the committee is Ms. Choi Younghee, who has worked hard to amend the Adoption Act to date.

Questions from the members of the committee covered various topics including: human rights of immigrant women, low birth rate, sexual crime, women professors ratio at national and public universities, comfort women, internet addiction and human rights of the North Korean female refugees. But the most asked questions were about children and teenagers. Is the Ministry of Gender Equality the Ministry of Child Care? Even the name of the Ministry includes gender equality, but there was neither criticism of nor reproach for government policies from the perspective of gender equality. I think that gender roles still exist in government affairs and this can explain the low gender equality in Korea; Korea ranks 104th of 134 countries, according to the 2010 Global Gender Gap Report of World Economic Forum.

The members of the committee pointed out insufficient policy regarding childcare, low educational opportunity for handicapped children, no budget for multi-cultural families and the absence of opportunity for international youth exchange programs for the low income population’s children. They also requested proper measures from the government regarding child safety accidents, sexual violence against children, child abuse and teenage runaways.

l  Photo 2 (Witness being sworn under oath before testifying, Ms. Mok on the left)

By the time the inspection was almost over, Ms. Kim Sanghee, the member of the Democratic Party pointed out that the support policy for unwed single parents is not sufficient and criticized maternity homes, which provide counseling, counsel for adoption. She called Ms. Mok to testify and Ms. Mok stood up and stated:

“Currently, unwed mothers under 24 years old and multi-cultural families are provided with various support from the government. Adoptive families also receive a monthly subsidy of KRW 100,000 and first class health insurance until the adopted child turns 13 years old. However, unwed mothers over 24 years old only receive a monthly subsidy of KRW 50,000 until the child turns 12 years old. Adoptive families are provided with a subsidy regardless of their income, but when it comes to unwed mothers over 24 years old, only those with incomes less than 130% of the minimum cost of living are subsidized. In reality, the support level is different according to the mother’s classification.”

Ms. Kim also explained that 16 of 32 maternity homes are operated by the top 3 adoption agencies, and those maternity homes show high adoption ratios. Then she asked for the reason and said, “That is probably because maternity homes push for adoption.” She requested thorough investigation by the Minister of the Gender Equality and Family.

She also added “In the past, people thought it was best to take care of unwed mothers until delivery, surrender children for adoption, then train unwed mothers for a new start. However, this point of view has to be reverted, because this violates the human rights of the women and their children. In addition, considering the seriously low birth rate, we need to help unwed mothers to deliver their babies and live their lives as a happy family unit. Adoption agencies are suspected of acting as baby-selling agencies, and such suspicions must be thoroughly inspected.”

The Minister of the Gender Equality promised to investigate the circumstances and take necessary countermeasures.

Ms. Choi Younghee who had hosted the inspection in the afternoon demanded Ms. Mok’s testimony regarding the discrimination towards unwed mothers at the workplace. Ms. Mok testified, “There were cases of unwed mothers being fired due to tarnishing the company’s image.”

Ms. Mok felt very sorry and sad because she couldn’t fully state what she had prepared and only several members of the National Assembly showed interest and asked questions. However, the human rights of unwed mothers was mentioned for the first time in the history of the government inspection, and the need for a policy to guarantee unwed mothers custody of their children. Moreover, an actual unwed mother stood out and spoke up! I just felt sorry that I could not fully express my happiness nor congratulate her for speaking up.

On the way back, I thought again about the questions of the children that were frequently asked during the inspection. Handicapped children, children from multi-cultural families, sexually violated children… These are the children in whom the members of National Assembly showed interest. In addition to these children, though, there are children of unwed mothers who barely make it day to day due to being stigmatized and the lack of support. These are the children who are also in danger of having difficult life if there is not enough support for their mothers. How can we make people see the existence of these children?

The feeling I have is of someone who is approaching their home, yet the path home keeps going with no end.