Ministry of Gender Equality set for expansion

SEOUL, Nov. 29 (Yonhap) -- The government and the ruling party agreed Sunday to
push for the expansion of the Ministry of Gender Equality's (MOGE) jurisdiction
to emphasize the importance of women and childcare-oriented policies.
Following a policy consultation meeting with the government, a ranking lawmaker
of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) said that the MOGE will take over
jurisdiction of government policies on family, youth, childcare and multicultural
family affairs from the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs, starting
next year.
The MOGE is currently in charge of formulating and implementing gender-related
policies and enhancing women's status and rights in society.
With the inauguration of the Lee Myung-bak government in early 2008, the MOGE
lost its family and youth affair jurisdiction to the health ministry. But the
upcoming reorganization agreed upon at the government-GNP policy meeting is
expected to heighten the status of the MOGE, officials said.
"The reorganization of the MOGE is inevitable as the ministry's affairs are
closely related to general family affairs, including youth fostering and
childcare," said a GNP lawmaker.
"In the long run, the MOGE will also be responsible for policies to increase the
nation's declining birthrate," he said.
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