The Gender Ministry will focus on boosting gender equality next year, along with supporting child care and protecting teenagers.

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family briefed President Moon Jae-in on its 2019 policy plans at the Central Government Complex on Thursday.

In 2019, the ministry will hold gender equality education sessions for students, company workers, civil servants and local district councilors. It will also encourage central and local governments to set gender equality goals and assess achievements.

In a bid to help victims of online sex crimes, the ministry will work with related government bodies and police to remove materials such as revenge porn and spycam footage from the internet more swiftly. It will also set up five counseling centers for migrant women who are victims of violence and provide services in their native languages.

To improve female representation in society, the ministry will conduct research on companies’ female executive ratio and announce the results in October. It plans to offer incentives to companies that work on increasing the number of female executives.

During the briefing, the ministry also unveiled a scheme for supporting “comfort women” who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II. It will increase the amount of grants for living, nursing and medical expenses for the survivors while increasing efforts to archive historical records related to the former sex slaves. 

The ministry will also work on creating a better environment for raising children, expanding the number of communal child care centers from the current 205 to 276 while pushing to implement a national certification system for babysitters.

Subsidies for single parents will be raised from the current 130,000 won ($115) per month to 200,000 won in 2019. The maximum age of children of parents eligible for such subsidies will be increased to 18 years old from the current 14 years old.

To tackle illegal activities related to teenagers, such as youth prostitution, the ministry plans to designate “random-chat” applications as harmful content for young people. It will also increase the number of counselors to deal with teenage mental health issues.

For teenagers from multicultural families, the ministry will run more Korean language education centers and tutoring services. It will also provide counseling services for those who need emotional support.

“I believe the ministry will do its part to create a society that embraces and respects all types of families, welcomes and blesses all new lives, and treats everyone equally,” said Moon during the briefing.

(jupark@heraldcorp.com)