KLRI : KOREA LEGISLATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Ⅰ. Backgrounds and Purposes

○ The Act on Equal Employment of Men and Women and Support for Work-Family Balance (hereinafter referred to as the Equal Employment of Men and Women Act) was enacted on December 4, 1987, and more than 33 years have passed since it took effect. The contents of the Gender Equality Act, enacted in 1987 and enforced in 1988, were largely divided into two parts: the prohibition of discrimination between men and women and maternal protection. Among them, the maternal protection area only briefly stipulated the establishment of parental leave and welfare facilities. In this area of discipline, the prohibition and prevention of sexual harassment were added by the 1999 revision, and the 2001 revision of the law introduced the first content of support for the balance between work and family life in addition to maternal protection

○ Gender discrimination in the entire process of employment was legally prohibited by the enforcement of the Gender Equality Act, the state's active intervention to alleviate gender inequality in the labor market was also introduced, the spouse maternity leave system, the reduction of working hours during the childcare period, and the family care leave system were introduced for both work and family

○ The parental leave system, which sets the period for raising children after childbirth, is an important system that not only helps to grow into healthy children, but also allows men and women to benefit at the same time among maternity protection provisions

○ According to the Act on Equal Employment of Men and Women and Support for Work-Family Balance, it is necessary to conduct a legislative evaluation study to confirm the validity of the legislative purpose of the system, the achievement of legislative purposes, the effectiveness and effectiveness of the system

 

Ⅱ. Major Content

1. the scope of legislative evaluation

○ This study evaluated the normative appropriateness, legislative effectiveness, and performance/problems of the current law in the application of the law by applying the post-legislative evaluation method. The normative appropriateness evaluation includes the legal basis for the parental leave system under the Gender Equality Act, the suitability of the higher law, and the evaluation of the legislative system

○ The validity, effectiveness, and effectiveness of the legislative objectives were evaluated by carrying out Article 19 (Parental Leave), Article 19-4 (Type of Use of Childcare Leave and Shortening Working Hours during Childcare Period), Article 19-6 (Support from Employers for Return to Work), Article 20 (Support for Work-Family Balance), Article 37 (Penalty), and Article 39 (Penalty) based on the important provisions of the Act dealing with the 'Parental Leave System' under the Gender Equality Act. In addition, the problems of the current system and improvement measures were presented through the results of the evaluation

○ This study conducted legislative evaluation based on data. Various data collection and analysis were conducted so that the effectiveness of the parental leave system regulations and the feasibility of legislative purposes under the Gender Equality Act could be objectively evaluated

○ In this project, a survey of 600 people who have used the parental leave system for the past two years was conducted. The survey was conducted through a structured questionnaire that can confirm the effectiveness and efficiency of the system. In addition, in the analysis of major statistics related to the parental leave system under the Gender Equality Act in Chapter 2, Section 3 of this report, data-based research is conducted through time-series analysis of the statistics of the survey conducted under Article 6-3 of the Gender Equality Act. The main statistical analysis of Chapter 2, Section 3 of this report was prepared by Dr. Nanjoo Kim of the Korea Women's Policy Institute, an expert in statistical analysis related to gender employment equality

○ In addition, in this study, an expert survey was conducted to analyze expert opinions on the regulations of the parental leave system under the Gender Equality Act. Through an expert survey, expert opinions on the specific perception, legislative feasibility, or effectiveness of experts were collected and analyzed. 

2. normative evaluation

○ The Gender Equality Act, which regulates the parental leave system, states in Article 1, "This Act aims to ensure equal opportunities and treatment of men and women in employment, promote maternal protection and employment of women to realize gender equality in employment, and to contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of all citizens by supporting the balance between work and family of workers." The purpose of the introduction of the parental leave system is to give workers who give birth and raise children the right to leave their jobs and concentrate on raising them

○ The higher law of the parental leave system under the Gender Equality Act is the Constitution, and the right to live a human life in relation to the parental leave system (Article 34 (1) of the Constitution), and the state's obligation to prepare and implement policies on social security and social welfare (Article 34 (2) of the Constitution), the state's obligation to support and protect marriage and families (Article 36 (1) of the Constitution), and the right to equality can be derived, and it is difficult to say that it is not consistent with the higher law

○ The main matters to be investigated for the evaluation of the legislative system need to be checked whether it has a system such as purpose, significance, scope, target, enforcement tools (action, motivation, prohibition), and restrictions (sanctions, restrictions). The parental leave system and related systems include prenatal leave. Laws related to pre and postpartum leave, parental leave system, and working hours reduction system during the parenting period are the Labor Standards Act, the Act on Equal Employment of Men and Women and Support for Work-Family Balance, and the Employment Insurance Act. These three laws can be said to be three laws related to maternal protection

○ The system, which responds to a series of situations such as pregnancy, childbirth, and rearing, requires legal grounds to be found in three different laws, and at the same time, it is difficult to know what is applied to each situation at once because it is subject to various laws depending on the job situation, but it is designed for the efficient operation of the system

3. Achievement of legislative objectives and overall effectiveness

○ In this study, a survey was conducted on 600 office workers who used the parental leave system within the last two years to achieve legislative objectives and to confirm the overall effectiveness. As a result of asking whether the parental leave system achieved the legislative purpose, 30.2% of the respondents answered 'low' + 'very low' than 'high' + 'very high' (27.5%)

○ As a result of asking whether the parental leave system is effective, 33.5% of the respondents said it was "low" + "very low" and almost similar to "high" (31.0%). As for the satisfaction with the workplace parental leave system, 43.2% answered "satisfied" + "very satisfied" (23.3%) than "unsatisfied" + "very dissatisfied" (23.3%). Recently, various policies have encouraged men to use parental leave, and when asked whether men's use of parental leave positively affects the entire family, including their spouse and children, 72.5% of the respondents said it was "not at all" and "not at all" (12.2%) and men's use of parental leave was found to have a positive effect on the entire family, including their spouse and children

○ As a result of asking whether the current workplace's parental leave system is an important influence on the birth plan, 47.2% of the respondents answered high ('low' + 'very low') (20.2%), and the proper operation of the parental leave system by the company they attend seems to have an important influence on the birth plan

○ In addition, when asked if the spouse had ever used parental leave for children who applied for parental leave, 32.6% said they had never used it and were willing to use it in the future, 32.4% said they had never used it and were not willing to use it in the future, 28.3% said they had used it, and 6.7% said they had not used it (freelancers, etc.). 

4. Improvement Considerations

○ It can be used to improve the system by identifying the causes of difficult or reluctant use of parental leave. It is possible to review the work of specifically stipulating or further specifying unfavorable treatment in Article 19 (3) of the Gender Equality Act

○ Even if the period of parental leave is recognized as a period of service in the Gender Equality Act, the period required for promotion may be excluded according to the promotion regulations for each company, and the period of parental leave may be excluded from the promotion qualification requirements. The Gender Equality Act on Employment also needs to consider stipulating that the period of parental leave includes not only the period of service but also the period required for promotion. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Personnel Management recently announced that the entire period of parental leave for public officials is recognized as a work experience for promotion (Ministry of Personnel Management, October 2, 2024)

 

Ⅲ. Expected Effects 

○ Under the Equal Employment of Men and Women Act, meaningful data related to the parental leave system are analyzed and used for legislative evaluation, and additional meaningful legislative evaluation data are secured through surveys

○ It can be used as basic data for establishing measures to improve the parental leave system by analyzing the performance, limitations, and revision directions related to the parental leave system under the Equal Employment of Men and Women Act

○ By providing a methodology for legislative evaluation based on the individuality and specificity of the gender employment equality law, contributing to the establishment of a methodology for legislative evaluation for the same law in the future