Current Status of Male Gender Equality Awareness in Gwangju Metropolitan City
and Task Proposals to Promote Policies Engaging Men in Gender Equality
KO Bohye [Senior Research Fellow, Gwangju Foundation for Women & Family]
The gender equality policies pursued by the Korean society have exposed limitations despite their achievements thus far, particularly in focusing exclusively on supporting women's empowerment and changes. Despite the progress made by the policies for women, the social status of women remains low, and violence against women continues. This has led to misunderstandings that men are being marginalized or unfairly reversely discriminated. More fundamentally, it has been criticized that due attention has not been paid to men, another dimension of inequality, thereby our society is failing to bring about changes in gender roles within patriarchal gender relations.
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Recognizing that men are integrated into gender relations as beneficiaries of institutionalized privilege or as cost bearers, integrated gender equality policies for men should focus on incorporating agendas that consider men's privileges, costs, and internal differences in order to bring about fundamental changes in gender relations. To this end, three policy directions are proposed. First, promoting changes in attitudes and behaviors among men for gender equality; second, encouraging men's support and participation in the elimination of gender inequality, particularly gender-based violence; and third, providing supports for men that focus on marginalized men who bear costs rather than benefiting from privileges, taking into account the differences among men.
Current Status of Male Gender Equality Awareness in Gwangju Metropolitan City
and Task Proposals to Promote Policies Engaging Men in Gender Equality
KO Bohye [Senior Research Fellow, Gwangju Foundation for Women & Family]
The gender equality policies pursued by the Korean society have exposed limitations despite their achievements thus far, particularly in focusing exclusively on supporting women's empowerment and changes. Despite the progress made by the policies for women, the social status of women remains low, and violence against women continues. This has led to misunderstandings that men are being marginalized or unfairly reversely discriminated. More fundamentally, it has been criticized that due attention has not been paid to men, another dimension of inequality, thereby our society is failing to bring about changes in gender roles within patriarchal gender relations.
.
.
.
Recognizing that men are integrated into gender relations as beneficiaries of institutionalized privilege or as cost bearers, integrated gender equality policies for men should focus on incorporating agendas that consider men's privileges, costs, and internal differences in order to bring about fundamental changes in gender relations. To this end, three policy directions are proposed. First, promoting changes in attitudes and behaviors among men for gender equality; second, encouraging men's support and participation in the elimination of gender inequality, particularly gender-based violence; and third, providing supports for men that focus on marginalized men who bear costs rather than benefiting from privileges, taking into account the differences among men.