This is the third and last in a series of articles on sexual harassment in Korea: how society perceives it, what measures are being taken, and what more can be done to prevent it. ― Ed.


Stemming sexual harassment has been a tall order for many countries since the term was coined in the 1970s.

Korea is no exception, especially with the increasing profile of women in all spheres of society.

As more women step into leadership positions, including the election of the first female president last December, the country has stepped up efforts to raise the awareness of gender equality and curb sexual abuse. Despite progress in legal and social systems, public perception and conditions are yet to catch up, experts and activists say.

They call for more long-term and fundamental efforts to create a neutral and equal situation. The ultimate goal should be achieving a social environment where no gender is above the other, workplaces treat both genders as equal, and sturdy systematic tools prevent authorities from abusing power, they say.

To tackle deep-rooted inequality, they also call for a broader gender-sensitive perspective. The approach refers to critically reviewing the culture, regulations, and various systems applied to each gender in terms of whether they are advantageous or disadvantageous to a specific gender.

“Sexual harassment is not a problem of an individual but of an organization,” said Kim Na-hyoun, an official of Korean Womenlink, a major advocate group in operation since 1987.

When it comes to sexual harassment, it is vital that it is not perceived as a personal issue between a man and a woman, but a problem between the members of an entity and power, according to Kim who works at the organization’s labor counseling center.

“Usually, businesses that have strict hierarchies and undemocratic atmospheres tend to have more sexual harassment cases.”

Victims in smaller organizations have difficulties seeking help as personnel management officials are usually in charge of looking into complaints and taking steps to reprimand them. Companies hiring fewer than 30 employees are not required to designate an ombudsman official. Businesses with fewer than 10 employees are not obligated to provide sexual harassment prevention training.

Of the 354 counseling cases for sexual harassment last year, 70.6 percent occurred at businesses with fewer than 30 employees, according to a survey by the Korean Women Workers Association released last month.

It found that the majority of victims were in the lower or lowest ranks, 40.1 percent were younger than 30 years old, and nearly 59 percent had started work less than a year before.

Public organizations are not free from the problem.

Rep. Kim Je-nam from the Progressive Justice Party released a report last month that showed the poor sexual harassment prevention training at government agencies.

Many of the 32 major central government ministries and organizations polled from May 13-15 were not able to give details about their anti-harassment training. Education for high-rank public officials was not recorded at all. Cheong Wa Dae said 365 of its 380 staff watched a 17-minute-long video produced by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family but no attendance log had been kept.

Rep. Kim was quoted as saying that the Gender Equality and Family Ministry should conduct a thorough investigation into the present sexual harassment prevention training situation among public organizations and rectify any legal or systematic shortfalls.

The fast-changing labor market adds urgency to the issue. According to Statistics Korea on June 3, more women in their 20s have been finding jobs and becoming more economically active than men since the second quarter of last year. In the third quarter of 2012, 63.1 percent of women in their 20s were economically active compared to 62.2 percent of men, while in the fourth quarter, 61.1 percent of women and 61.0 percent of men were working.

With increasing reports of high-profile sexual harassment cases, the government is also stepping up its countermeasures.

As a follow-up to the sexual assault scandal involving a presidential spokesman this year, the Ministry of Security and Public Administration said last month that it would toughen punishment against public servants who have committed sexual harassment or other sex crimes. They include elevating the maximum disciplinary action to expulsion, regardless of the degree of violation or intent, whereas until now, only premeditated or serious offenses were subject to expulsion as long as the victim was not underage.

According to the ministry’s report, 62 percent of public servants who committed sex crimes received light reprimands such as a wage cut last year.

The Gender Equality Ministry is also faking steps to gender discrimination such as through its gender mainstreaming and gender equality policies.

The ministry, for instance, follows a gender impact assessment policy, which aims to give women and men equal benefits by considering demands and differences according to gender when planning, executing and assessing the policy by analyzing conditions and reviewing gender statistics. This policy was introduced in 2002 under the Framework Act on Women’s Development, began its test-run in 2004 and was conducted on 2,954 projects by 292 government organizations as of 2011.

Despite Korea’s ardent efforts to combat gender discrimination, it has a long way to go.

The Economist compared 26 countries using OECD data on International Women’s Day in March to create the “glass-ceiling index,” using measures such as equal pay between genders and women’s access to senior jobs.

Korea ranked among the lowest along with Japan, with 14 points out of 100, largely because of a paucity of women in leadership positions, reports said. New Zealand took first place.

Eun Hyeong-soo, a 34-year-old worker in an architecture company, said, “All sides of society must change including the media that resorts to making sensational news out of sexual crimes, while the fact-finding on whether the crime actually did take place fizzles out.”

“Social awareness may have to change a lot more than we think in order for it to be able to sincerely tell the victim it was not her fault,” he added.

As for curbing sexual harassment at workplaces in particular, observers said the way female and male workers are perceived should be fundamentally changed.

“The core cause of sexual harassment in the workplace in particular is due to the convention that the male is primarily the breadwinner while the female is the follower,” Kim said.

“The definition of a good worker is also male-oriented such as by being able to work late and join after-hours drinking sessions. And women, who had been excluded from such a business structure from the start, are required to fit or surpass such standards.”

Regarding the critical view that policies for women beget reverse discrimination, Choe Jae-cheon, chair-professor of EcoScience Division at Ewha Womans University, offered his view into the natures of both genders.

“Femininity and masculinity clearly exist. But in one individual’s body and mind, femininity and masculinity coexist. There is only a difference of degree,” he said, adding that both genders should be considered “normal” to create equal relations that transcend the differences.

Explaining that while women had been chiefly responsible for raising children and men predominantly in charge of breadwinning, an egalitarian society would ease the burden on both, he said.

“When the top-down society based on authoritarianism recedes and a democratic and parallel society opens, I believe the most necessary virtue will be to keep respect toward one another at the very least,” he also said.

“I don’t believe that social justice is only achieved through struggle. Equality built on accurate understanding through logic and consequential compromise will be much more beautiful than the equality achieved through struggle.”

By Lee Joo-hee (jhl@heraldcorp.com)