This handout photo taken on April 28, 2021 and provided by the South Korean Defence Ministry shows South Korean soldiers sitting after receiving the first dose of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 coronavirus vaccine at the Armed Forces Capital Hospital in Seongnam, south of Seoul. (HANDOUT / SOUTH KOREAN DEFENCE MINISTRY / AFP)
A heated debate in South Korea about mandatory military service for women is inflaming divisions between the sexes rather than narrowing social gaps, the country’s gender equality minister said.
Conscription has fostered employment perks that can benefit men when they complete their military service – and put women at a disadvantage as they start their careers
Chung Young-ai, who leads the Gender Equality and Family Ministry, was responding to a question in a Bloomberg interview about whether young women should be made to join their male counterparts in serving in the armed forces. The issue has been the subject of wide discussion since April, when ruling party lawmaker and 2022 presidential hopeful Park Yong-jin reacted to local election defeats by suggesting mandatory military service for women would promote gender equality.
Chung said Monday the direction of the argument was “problematic.” “The debate on women serving in the military didn’t come from trying to achieve gender equality, but from voices who are asking women to experience the same disadvantages that men did,” she said.
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Park's proposal touched on a divisive issue that in some way affects almost every family in South Korea. An online petition to the office of President Moon Jae-in demanding female conscription received almost 300,000 signatures as of Tuesday, surpassing a threshold that requires a response.
Moon's progressive government has seen support among women erode ahead of a presidential election just 10 months away and is trying to win back the crucial voting block to keep the top office when Moon’s single, five-year terms ends. The trend contributed to the Democratic Party’s defeat last month in mayoral races in Seoul and Busan, South Korea’s two largest cities.
Conscription has fostered employment perks that can benefit men when they complete their military service — and put women at a disadvantage as they start their careers. The wage gap between the sexes ranks among the largest in the developed world and clouds the country’s long-term economic prospects.
“The way we see it, our youth goes through struggles by serving in the military and we need to improve the environment for serving,” the academic-turned-minister said. “This includes giving due credit to those that have finished their service. But this shouldn’t justify discriminating against those who did not serve in the military, such as women or people with disabilities.”
South Koreans must focus on solving chronic problems such as income disparity, a low birth rate and systemic gender-based discrimination that rank among the worst in the developed world and put strains on growth, Chung said. The pandemic has made things even more difficult for women, with central bank data showing they have suffered far greater job losses than men.
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The government has struggled to meet some of its own goals.
During South Korea's presidential campaign in 2017, Moon pledged to be a “president for gender equality,” and promised he would have women make up half of his cabinet members by the end of his term, after starting from 30 percent. With less than a year left in office, he now only has four female ministers in a cabinet of 19.