The Gender Equality Ministry is set to explore men's experiences and policy needs in areas such as caregiving, the workplace, and military service, while discussing the scope and direction of gender equality policies.
On October 25, the ministry will host the second 'Youth Gender Balance Forum' at Yonsei University's Baekyang Nuri Grand Ballroom, featuring over 100 participants aged 19 to 39.
Titled 'Gender Equality for All: What Gender Equality Policies Do Youth Envision?', this forum aims to examine gender-based constraints and policy needs in young people's lives and how these can be reflected in gender equality policies.
The first forum, held on August 30, focused on societal expectations of masculinity and femininity. The upcoming forum will expand the discussion to specific directions and tasks for gender equality policies.
The event will consist of four sessions. The first session, 'Same Question, Different Perspectives,' will allow participants to share their thoughts on how changing lives of men and women impact each other. Following this, Kim Won-jeong, head of the Gender Equality Research Division at the Korean Women's Policy Institute, will explain the evolution of gender equality policies and the growing discussions around male participation.
The second session, 'How Far Can Gender Equality Policies Go?', will discuss the scope of policies based on specific case studies. Participants will debate how to address five scenarios, including paternity leave, gender-based job assignments, the challenges faced by young people in seeking help, the burden of family responsibilities, and time commitments related to military service.
The third session will utilize a hypothetical policy currency to explore the policy issues that youth prioritize. Under the theme '100GB, Where to Invest?', participants will allocate 100GB (Gender Balance) of imaginary policy currency across ten policy issues, including caregiving, workplace, mental health, isolation, military service, gender violence, and culture, and share their reasons for their choices.
In the final session, 'Creating Gender Equality Policies Together,' groups will select three key policy ideas based on previous discussions and propose considerations for implementation.
The Gender Equality Ministry plans to examine how related policies impact choices and opportunities for both men and women, while also discussing the alignment with tasks aimed at improving structural inequalities faced by women.
Additionally, the insights and policy currency allocation results from the forum, along with the key policies and proposals from each group, will serve as reference materials for reviewing the scope and tasks of future gender equality policies.
Minister Won Min-kyung stated, 'As gender roles and expectations evolve, the ways in which men's and women's lives are interconnected are also changing. This forum is an opportunity to examine the different constraints and policy needs arising from gender, rather than pitting women's and men's experiences against each other, and to collaboratively seek the scope and direction of policies for 'Gender Equality for All' with the youth.'
* This article has been translated by AI.
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