The women's division of the National Teachers Labor Union (NTLU) has made various efforts to eliminate gender discrimination in classroom instruction. The division published textbooks and instruction guides regarding sex education and gender discrimination.

Along with the NTLU's Division on Gender Equa1 Education, it also organized a teacher training seminar. The 1993 training session focused on identifying teachers' prejudices regarding gender roles and on developing ways to eliminate them.

As a further effort to develop a gender equa1 education, NTLU teachers have organized new fairy tale writing projects. An example of these newly written tales is as follows:

"A New Fairy Tale"

0nce upon a time, there lived a beautifu1 princess named Seu1-ki ('Wise'). This princess lived in a castle and had many expensive dresses. The princess was promised to marry a prince named Oh-man ('Haughty').

One day, a giant dragon appeared, set the princess's castle on fire, and with its hot fiery breath, burned all of the princess's dresses, and kidnapped the prince. Princess SeuI-ki resolved to chase after the dragon and save her prince

The princess searched for some clothes to wear, but all that was left was a paper bag. So, the princess threw on the bag and went after the dragon.

At last, Princess SeuI-ki arrived at a cave that had a grand door. The princess took hold of the knocker and knocked on the door. The dragon stuck his nose out the door and said,

"Oh, it's the princess! Princesses are delicious to eat, but since l ate the whole castle toady, I'm already full. Why don't you come back tomorrow?"

The dragon shut the door so fast that the princess almost hit her nose on the door.

'Wait!' Princess SeuI-ki shouted. 'Is it true that you are the world's most magnificent and fearsome dragon?'

'Of course,' replied the dragon.

'Is it true that with your fiery breath, you can burn down ten forests?' asked the princess. 'WelI. of course,' said the dragon. With that, the dragon let out a long, deep breath and burned down fifty forests.

' Wow! That's reaIIy magnificent!' said the princess.

The dragon drew in another deep breath, but this time, nothing came out. The dragon did not have enough fire left to fry an egg.

Princess SeuI-ki walked past the dragon's be1ly and opened the cave door. Inside sat Prince Oh-man. Prince Oh-man looked at the princess and said. 'You 100k really filthy! You smell like ashes, and your hair is tangled! On top of that, you're dirty, and you are dressed in a paper bag. Go and come back dressed like a rea1 princess!

'Prince Oh-man,' the princess said, 'I think your clothes are really nice, and your hair looks good. You look like a true prince, but you yourself are a worthless felIow!'

They say that after that, Princess Seul-ki and Prince Oh-man never married.

It is that 'women are not born but are made' implying that women are created by society from the time they are born. Factors contributing to the socialization of women in Korea include the culture, education, legal system, and customs. This report analyzes the extent of gender discrimination in education by analyzing elementary and middle school text books. It also considers what an education truly based on gender equality would include.

1. Fundamental direction and problem of our education
   Korean women today define their lives within the segregation and prejudices rooted in traditional gender roles; they are taught not to extend beyond these limited boundaries. For example, textbooks always portray the mother as the housewife who stays at home, while the father is seen as the head of the household who has a job and participates in the broader society. In addition, men are portrayed as active and willing to assume leadership, while women are passive and emotional.

   The few stories about women portray them in such roles as the filial daughter, the good mother, or the good wife. Women who have played important social or political roles are not portrayed or are undervalued.

   For instance. Yoo Kwan_soon the woman who fought for Korean independence during the Japanese occupation, is called "our big sister" rather than "our heroine." In this way, Korean education today fails to instil1 a healthy perspective on gender roles. It also fails to reflect major social changes, such as increased female participation in all sectors of society.

   (The following is an excerpt from 'A Study on Gender Roles Portrayed in Elementary and Middle School Textbooks. compiled by the Women's Development Institute.)

2. Gender roles seen in textbooks
   1. The neglect of women

      ( Table 1) Proportion of women appearing in textbooks
      

      Category	Elem Sch	Middle Sch	HiRh Sch
      Narration	39.2%	31.9%	94%
      Illustrations	39.1%	37.7%	24.4%

      As seen in Table 1, the proportion of women appearing in currently used textbooks falls far below that of men. Particularly when textbooks introduce famous people, they are almost always men. Elementary school textbooks, for example, carry such stories as 'The Story of Choong Moo Gong' (third grade), The Story of Pavre" (third grade), and "Edison" (fourth grade). The situation worsens in middle school textbooks, in which 'An Anecdote about Curie's Wife' (seventh grade) is the only story with a female main character.

      In addition, all historical leaders portrayed in textbooks are men. It is difficult to see accounts of women's private lives. Middle school textbooks include a total of only nine stories about women in history; high school textbooks eleven.

      Even among these stories about women, only one -the story of Shin Sa-im-dang (a famous female artist during the Chosun Dynasty period) -portrays a woman who contributed a meaningful skill to her society. It is through these kinds of textbooks, which place more importance on men, that students learn to take for granted the alienation of women from all sectors of society, culture, and history.

   2. Women's roles

      As elementary school is a time when children begin to consolidate their knowledge of previously learned gender roles, elementary school textbooks must make a particular effort to teach equality in gender relations. Some stories in current textbooks are making this effort.

      "The Non-discriminating Heart," a story in a fourth-grade ethics textbook, shows a group of students discussing and rethinking their ideas regarding gender discrimination. 'Our Equa1 Community' (fifth grade) includes a sketch cal1ed, 'My Father Prepares Dinner', which deals with the division of domestic labor in double-income households.

      Apart from these efforts, however, textbooks on the whole still reflect traditional gender ro1es. For example. domestic labor is seen to be, without question, the responsibility of the mother, even if she is employed. This trend also appears in illustrations as pictures of mothers in aprons appear often and instill the idea that women must always be housewives.

      Such gender role portrayals are evident particularly in social studies, a subject that focuses primarily on instilling an upright understanding of society and human relations. Yet, analyses or elementary school social studies textbooks show the following trends:

      man = society           woman = home
      man = producer          woman = consumer
      man = worker            woman = non-worker
      man = high status job   woman = low status job
      man = leader            woman = follower
      

      This 'woman in the home, man at work' mentality is most clearly evident in the division in the vocational arts between home economics and technological arts. Through this division, women are taught about life in the home, while male students are taught about life in society, in particular about participating in the state's economic growth plans. For example, in instructions regarding computer usage, home economics textbooks describe computers as consumer products needed for leisurely use.

      On the contrary, in technological arts textbooks the uses of computers in modern society are explained more broadly describing the uses of computers in various social organizations and explaining their potential uses.

   3. Women's employment

      In elementary school textbooks a total of 111 men with jobs are portrayed, while only l6 women are shown. Twenty-two fields of employrnent are shown for men, while women's jobs are limited to eight fields, which include teacher, nurse, and receptionist.

      Even within the same professional fields, men are shown to be in planning, manufacturing, and managing positions. Among teachers, for instance, the regular teachers are women, while men are principals or assistant principals. The same trends appear in textbook illustrations or photographs.

      In illustrations. 41.7 percent of people with jobs are men, while 27.3 percent are women. Hence, the percentage for women fall far be1ow the actual female economic participation rate (47 percent in 1992).

   4. Women's ethics

      In elementary school ethics textbooks, men and women appear in different ethical spheres. Female main characters appear more in the 'individual' sphere, representing the ethical value of respect for human life (40 percent), or they appear in the 'family' or 'neighborhood community' sphere representing the values of love for one's home (42.9 percent), love for family (38.9 percent), and etiquette (38.5 percent).

      Female main characters appear less in the 'civic' sphere to represent values such as justice (12.5 percent) and obedience to the law (11.1 percent). as well as in the 'national sphere to represent such values as love for state (l3.O percent). These facts show that the ethical values traditionally emphasized for women have been 1ove, etiquette, and sacrifice; for men, justice and strong will.

      In addition, depictions of female personality traits in elementary and middle school textbooks emphasize passivity, emotion, and sensitivity. Men, on the other hand, are portrayed as adventurous, active, and willing to take up new

      Table 2: Male-female comparisons of adjectives describing textbook characters (data from 'Korean Education and Gender Discrimination,' a compilation by the National Teachers Labor Union)
      

      	M	F
      industrious	3	1
      beautiful	2	1
      honest	3	0
      neighborly	1	0
      patient	1	0
      praiseworthy	3	2
      friendly	2	0
      puts in effort	3	0
      courageous	6	0
      intelligent	2	0
      good	2	4
      brave	2	1
      strong	4	0
      prudent	1	0
      healthy	2	1
      broad-minded	6	0
      hard-working	7	1
      honorable	2	0
      fair	11	0
      firm	1	0
      benevolent	2	0
      independent	4	0
      responsible	0	0
      loyal	0	0
      Total	61	11

      challenges. Men are also futre-oriented, while women are past-oriented. These differences are evident when we compare the adjectives in Table 2 used in textbooks to describe male and female characteristics. As shown in Table 2, adjectives such 'courageous', 'strong', 'and hard-working' are frequently used for men; words like good. "pretty, 'meek', and 'praiseworthy' for women.

3. Teaching equal gender roles
   1. Reforming the textbook writing and editing process
      1. Greater female participation in textbook writing teams

         Approximately 80 percent of textbook writing teams in sch001s at all levels consists of men, and there are some teams with no women at all. Such trends create the potential for an education based on a male-centered view and value system, as well as the alienation of female students, who form one-half of the recipients of this education. Textbook writing teams usually comprise research, writing, and illustration divisions, but increased female participation is particularly important in the writing field in order to influence the contents of our textbooks.

      2. Educating textbook writers about gender-equal roles

         As important as increasing female participation in textbook writing is changing the ideology of the writers themselves. We need to create materials to educate writers about equal gender roles.

      3. Guidebooks for textbook writing

         As current textbooks fail to depart from traditional ideas, we need to formulate detailed guidebooks regarding equal gender roles and use them as standards in the writing of textbooks.

      4. Participation of female specialists in the educational process

         In promoting a gender-equal education, female education specialists must participate in every stage of educational reform. They must participate not only in the Committee for Deliberations over the Educational Process, but also in the general meetings and detailed discussions regarding reform.

   2. Improving the content of our education
      1. Presenting future-oriented female images

         -We must portray women actively entering into advanced employment fields. In addition, we must change the tendency to depict a traditional gender role division of labor within the same job.

         As more women are becoming active in regional communities and in national policy decisions, we must reflect images of such women actively taking leadership roles in society in our textbooks. The traditiona1 'female' areas of consumer and service activity must be expanded to include traditionally male fields such as po1itical activity.

         -We must go beyond such traits as tenderness, gentleness, and delicacy to create stronger, more active, and enterprising female personality traits.

         -More images of working mothers must be presented in a more positive light. The apron, used to symbolize the housewife, should appear only when appropriate.

      2. Presenting works of women writers and stories regarding famous women.

         In order to encourage female students to develop positive identities, more works of women writers must be published. We must find and include stories with female main characters. It is possible, for instance, to modify fables or children's stories by changing the main characters into women.

      3. Actively investigating women in history.

         We must revise historical writings to instill the understanding that historical development has come about through the cooperation of both men and women. We must begin active investigations into important women in history and to have fairer evaluations of the activities of such women.

      4. Actively depicting male-female cooperation in household labor

         Changes in women's roles must be built on the premise of changes in men's roles. Male-female cooperation in household labor must be accepted as natural. We must present more images of the father taking care of the children, doing housework, and when necessary wearing an apron.

      5. Requiring home economics and techno1ogical arts for both male and female students.

         According to the Sixth Educational Curriculum announced in 1992, home economics and technological arts are now requirements for both male and female middle school students.

         But, the high school curriculum has not fo1lowed suit. To prepare students for modern industrial society and new, future-oriented gender roles, home economics and technological arts should be prerequisites for both genders. The contents of the home economics curriculum must also be modified to reflect the trends of modem society.

Beginning last July the Korean Women Workers Associations United (KWWAU), along with the Korean Women's Association for Democracy and Sisterhood and the Korean Women Researchers Association carried out the first phase of a research project called, 'Making the State Responsible for Maternity Protection Costs.' The following article summarizes the contents of this project, which KWWAU plans to continue unti1 1994.

Whenever a phase of this project is completed, the results will be published so that they may be used by women's organizations and activists in the workplace.

1. Are protection and equality compatible concepts?
   According to international standards for protection and equality used by the UN and ILO, such protective measures as maternity leave which are directed related to women's capacity for pregnancy and childbirth are being strengthened, while other protective measures which have only been applied to women without relation to pregnancy are being applied equally to men.

   In addition, the problem of child-rearing is considered to be the responsibility of the broader society, while within the home, it is considered to rest equally with both the mother and father.

   We believe that in the long run, Korea must also keep pace with these international trends. The problem, however, is that Korea's labor conditions remain far below western standards, while the government is attempting to eliminate or reduce protective measures for women workers without ofFering any altematives.

   Recently, the Ministry of Labor considered labor 1aw reform measures such as repealing limits on nighttime work and work hour extensions, making menstruation leave unpaid when requested by the worker, and relaxing provisions forbidding women from working rn certain jobs.

   We cannot accept the explanation that companies are hesitant to hire women because of the excessive number of protective measures for women. This is further evident from survey results which indicate that the top priority of both government and business in labor force development lies in attracting married women and temporary workers. Rather, the hesitancy to hire women lies with the fact that companies have thusfar been held fiscally responsible for maternity protection costs.

   The reason that protective measures have not been implemented to the minimum legal standard also lies with this fiscal burden. We oppose the repea1 of protective measures for women workers for this reason..

2. State policies in the West regarding maternity protection.

   The United Kingdom presently has a socia1 welfare system which includes a health care provision with free medical service for all citizens, a retirement pension plan, an industrial injury allowance, and unemployment benefits.

   In the national insurance section of this welfare system is a set of maternity protection provisions, which guarantee income for women during the time they take off for childbirth.

   This protection plan stipulates that a woman who becomes pregnant after more than six months of work will receive from her employer a weekly pay for 18 weeks regardless of whether the woman returns to work after childbirth The average weekly pay in the ei?t weeks before childbirth must also exceed minimum national insurance payment.

   This allowance can be received 30 weeks after a woman becomes pregnant, and she take her leave between 30 to 35 weeks after becoming pregnant. Even women who are not eligible for these benefits can receive childbirth allowances in the form of childbirth allowance payments, allowances for i1lnesses, and one-time payments to hospital fees.

   In the case of Sweden, the maternity protection benefits related to childbirth and pregnancy operate like those of United Kingdom as part of the national guaranteed income policy, but its administration is included under the health insurance structure. Through this health insurance scheme, women can receive, in-kind, pregnancy allowances, delivery fees, parental insurance, and child-nursing pay.

   From 60 days before the expected date of childbirth, women can request to be moved to 1ighter work, and if this is not possible, they can receive an additional pregnancy allowance.

   In addition, according to health care laws, all medical services, beginning with long-term medical examinations, are provided at no cost. Regardless of whether a mother returns to work, she is given a one-time newborn-child allowance (part of the childbirth allowance) to cover expenses. The basic maternity leave lasts 12 weeks (six weeks before and after childbirth respectively).

   The 15-month parental insurance system (i. e. , leave needed for childbirth) provides 90 percent of the worker's income for 12 months, then provides pay at a predetermined level for three months afterwards.

   In 1990, the parental insurance period was extended to 18 months at a 90 percent of income provision rate. Labor unions within the manufacturing industry are currently pushing for a further extension of the parental insurance period to 24 months, and are suggesting that for 18 of these months, men and women should have the right to divide up the leave time provided.

3. Problems in Korea's policy regarding maternity protection

   The f0110wing table lists the maternity protection provisions included in the Basic Labor Standards Law and the Gender Equality in Employment Law:

   	Company responsibility	Penalties for violation
   Menstruation leave	1-day paid leave per month	under W 5,000,000
   Maternity leave	60-day paid leave	under 2 years imprisonment or under W 10,000,000 penality
   Childcare leave under	under 1 year	under 1 year under W 2,500,000

   The following lists maternity protection regulations in Korea :
   1. Barring any special circumstances, maternity leave allowances will be provided in kind within three days of childbirth for mothers with less than three children. As these allowances constitute insurance benefits, "in-kind benefits will consist of the health insurance administrative organization's payment of insurance costs to the hospital.

   2. If the child is delivered in a place different from where medical treatment was received, the childbirth allowance will be paid by the labor union after childbirth (W 400 for the first childbirth, W 46,400 for second and all successive childbirths).

   3. The amount of childbirth allowance is determined by the labor union constitution within a maximum of W 50.000. However, as the determination of the amount by the union is done on a voluntary basis, no union has carried out this right as of yet.
   There are several particularities of Korea's maternity protection policies. First, fiscal responsibility for all protective measures now rests entirely with businesses. These policies prescribe a passive role for the state, which merely oversees adherence to regulations and levies fines for violations. Secondly, the contents of the policies themselves are inadequate.

   The 60-day maternity leave is far below the ILO standard of 12 weeks. Even in Thailand, where the leve1 of economic deve1opment is far behind Korea, maternity leave of 90 days is provided. Moreover, income provisions are not even mentioned, and there is no basis to establish a subsistence level pay guarantee system during time of leave.

   Currently, paid childcare leave can be received only by forming individual agreements with the company. Third, the childbirth allowance and hospital fee provisions included in the health insurance scheme are limited. There are also no insurance benefits to cover medica1 examinations during pregnancy. As unions are not ensuring that childbirth allowances are paid, this regulation has become a dead letter.

4. Results of a survey on the status of Korean maternity protection

   From August to October 1993, KWWAU distributed questionnaires to labor union officers in 94 workplaces in the manufacturing, banking, and medical fields. 94 is a small sampling, but is helpful in drawing out general trends.

   First, surveys showed little difficulty in receiving menstruation and maternity leaves, but the number of workers who actually use these provisions remains remarkably low. Pregnancy or childbirth is often linked, as always, with being laid off from work.

   With menstruation leave, 50 percent of the workplaces surveyed were said to allow free usage, while 17 percent cited difficulties. In the case of maternity leave, 78 percent of' the workplaces allowed free usage; 3 percent, only a portion of the leave allowed and 5.3 percent, no usage.

   Survey results showed that workers could not freely use their leave for miscarriage and childcare. 58.5 percent responded that they had no previous usage of miscarriage leave. The fact that childcare leave has not even found its place in company regulations is evident when considering that 72.3 percent of the unions did not respond at al1.

   Among the reasons cited for difficulty in using miscarriage leave were the fact that it has not yet been legalized (16.0 percent), the lack of precedent (11.7 percent), and that taking such leave increases the work load for co-workers 5 percent).

   Reasons for the difficulty in using childcare leave included income-related reasons (l8.1 percent), the lack of precedent (12.8 percent), problems with personnel managers (7.4 percent), problems with childcare after returning to work (6.4 percent), and the fact that workers are not guaranteed the right to return to work (2.1 percent).

   When asked for the main reason that maternity protection within the company were not implemented properly, the responses included the lack or company awareness (36.2 percent) and the company's financial burden for the cost of such provisions (14.9 percent).

   These results indicate that placing the entire financial burden for maternity protection benefits on the company is becoming an obstacle in the fulfillment of these provisions. Other reasons included the lack of awareness among workers (23.4 percent) and the lack of union responses (64. responses).

   When asked about the legal development of the current maternity protection system, 93. 6 percent responded that it was at an insufficient stage and must be expanded. Among those areas that respondents considered most important to develop first were maternity leave (42.6 percent), paid childcare leave (26.6 percent). 1egal guarantee of leaves for periodic medical examinations during pregnancy (18.1 percent), legal guarantee of leaves for miscarriages (7.4 percent). and maternity leaves for spouses (2.1 percent).

   Responses regarding the best means of covering the costs of maternity protection included the collective responsibility of state and business (39.4 percent) and business responsibility with indirect government aid (35.1 percent).

   As such results show, responses favoring either direct or indirect aid from the government total 74.5 percent. Regarding the division of financial responsibility when maternity leave is extended, 79.8 percent responded that the state and business should share the cost.

5. Proposals for the expansion and stabilization of Korea's maternity protection

   The Korean Women's Organizations United named 1990 the Maternity Protection Year' and 1991 the 'Year to Secure the Right Equal and Permanent Work.' It has focused its efforts on the health of women workers and the issue of childcare, both of which begin with the provision of maternity protection.

   The various regional Women Workers Associations have responded by organizing conferences to present cases regarding job-related illnesses and maternity protection, expanding childcare facilites, pushing for greater government aid, and publishing guidebooks regarding the execution and stabilization of maternity protection provisions.

   Last year, the WWAs cooperated with labor unions to publish a fact book called 'The Women's Labor Policy that Working Women Support.' It also pressured each political party to implement these policies.

   We believe that the government must first and foremost view the mother's capacity for childbirth as a necessary social capacity for human reproduction. It must adopt the attitude that maternity protection constitutes a social right not merely a set of protective measures for physically weak women. In addition, 'women's protection' should be extended to male workers in the future and must match international standards.

   In order to bring about these goals, we must adopt policies which stipulate that the financial burdens for maternity protection, which now lies only with business, be shared with the government.