Korea: 159 Legal Statutes Unfairly Discriminate Based on Gender

159 Legal Statutes Unfairly Discriminate Based on Gender
By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter - Korea Times 2006/01/11

A total of 159 legal statutes have been found to be discriminatory in terms of gender, according to the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family.

The ministry Wednesday released a survey of clauses that discriminate on the basis of gender in 17 chapters of current laws. The survey was conducted by the Korean Women's Development Institute.

According to the ministry, the civil law includes the articles concerning marriage that allows men to get married at the age of 18 or older, but women at the age of 16 or older, indicating gender inequality.

``Setting the marriage age for women earlier than for men is the result of a traditional belief that women are supposed to get married at an earlier age, running counter to gender equality assured by the Constitution,'' a ministry official said.

He said that other advanced countries such as the United States adopt one legal marriage age for both men and women.

The ministry also pointed out that the law regulating sexual harassment or rape only protects women not men who are sexually assaulted by a man, thus not allowing a male offender against a man to be charged with a rape.

Under the criminal law, those who convicted of sexually harassing women will be subject to prison terms of more than three years.

Without a proper legal standard for a man-on-man rape, male offenders are charged with only ``forcible harassment,'' not rape.

The official said that many men, for example those doing their military service or in prison experience sexual harassment by other men.

``Under the current law, men are deprived of the right to protect their sexual integrity from violence. Regardless of gender, all of the victims suffer from both mental and physical pain,'' he said.

Laws concerning physical disability arbitrarily favor women. A man with scars on his face is considered to be not as debilitated as a woman with similar scars.

The ministry said facial scars should be regarded equally regardless of sex.

The ministry said that it will revise the provisions in cooperation with the relevant government agencies for a couple of years to improve gender equality.

chungay@koreatimes.co.kr

01-11-2006 19:27