Women’s jobs-and-childcare budgets for 2010 should be like this!!

 

 

 On the past November 27, We at Women’s Action for Decent Lives and Jobs (WADLJ) hosted a forum entitled ‘Women’s jobs-and-childcare budgets for 2010 should be like this’ in the Hall of Congressmen.

 

The National Assembly has currently carried out examination on budgets by sector. This forum was held in the Hall of Congressmen with the help from the office of Rep. Kim Sang-hee of the Democratic Party, in order to let National Assembly members to know our opinions directly.

 

In the greetings, Kim Sang-hee, a National Assembly member mentioned the forum was meaningful because it is held in a right time when political parties were arguing about budgeting, especially related to people.  She emphasized the need for uniting women’s circle and people to fight with the government’s anti-people and anti-women policies.

 

Lee Sang-dong, a researcher of the Saesayon made a presentation on the theme of women’s employment trends and issues in budgeting for 2010. He found the employment rate of women in their 30s was stagnant, caused by the expansion of women’s stopped working careers and women’s insecure employment. In order to decrease the wage gaps between men and women, he also highlighted the necessity for making good balances between social policies and employment policies, and further for achieving social security nets as well as employment security nets.

 

Next, Baek Sunhee, a professor of Social Welfare at Seoul Theological University had a presentation on problems and measures to childcare budgeting for 2010.  She criticized the decrease in most welfare related budgets, and especially childcare related budget which is the most necessary for working women to work securely. She also emphasized that the expansion and increase in public childcare is needed for women to work securely. She pointed out as alternatives, the increase in the number of childcare facilities, expansion to universal childcare systems, the expansion of substantial supports to two paycheck couples, and effective maintenance of childcare fee support systems.