Gender Equality Policy of the Korean Church
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I. The necessity of a Gender Equality Policy
II. Biblical Approach
III. Bills of Sectors
1. Education for realizing Gender Equality
2. System for realizing Gender Equality
3. Budget for realizing Gender Equality
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I. The necessity of a Gender Equality Policy
Recently discussion about gender equality has been very lively in Korean churches and activities related to it are increasing. In 2006, a Gender Equality Committee (GEC) was set up in the Educational Board of the Korean Methodist Church (KMC), and one in the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK) in 2007. The National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK) newly formed a Gender Equality Committee from the existing Women’s Committee in 2006. The GEC of the KMC produced a ‘Statistics data book on the degree of gender equality degree’ in 2006 and the NCCK GEC published a textbook, ‘Gender Equality, so interesting and so useful’ in 2007. In the light of active discussions inside and outside Korean churches, the Gender Equality Committee of NCCK is suggesting policies and bills to fulfill and realize gender equality in the Korean Church. Our effort for gender equality is to move one step forward to a realistic and concrete practical scheme rather than uttering general hopes.
The notion of gender equality is that women’s and men’s human rights are respected under the same conditions, that they grow together through developing their potentials of self realization, and that both genders enjoy together the results. This gender equality helps women and men to achieve mutual development and fulfillment by supporting and caring for each other and makes people have concern and continuously question gender discriminative culture and education.
The most important point for realizing gender equality is how to understand the word ‘equality’. Equality primarily means that equal opportunities are offered, in other words there are equal opportunities to participate in anything with no limit according to gender. However, if one cannot make full use of the opportunity given because of her or his gender, the equal opportunity degrades into something only formal and withered. If equal opportunity will become substantial, it must be assured that some conditions be set up not only in offering the opportunity but also in using it regardless of one’s gender. However, if equal results cannot be guaranteed despite equal conditions being given, then ‘affirmative action’ must be brought out in order to enforce the equal result. This affirmative action can be executed through legislation and system change.
To establish a policy for realizing gender equality, there are the indicators, Gender Related Development Index (GRDI) and Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) which determine the degree of the realization of gender equality. GRDI is the statistic of the gender equality level found in GNP, the average life expectancy, adult literacy rate and the combined primary to tertiary gross enrolment ratio. GEM is the result of measuring the number of women holding parliamentary seats, and of women legislators, senior officials, managers, and women in professional and technical positions along with the income difference between women and men. Expressing numerically the gender equality and women’s participation in the decision making level helps break so called habitual ‘in visualising’ which covers up and invisibly deals with any women-related issues and matters in patriarchal history. The gender equality policy in the church must be made and executed through applying GRDI and GEM to Christian culture, tradition and forms of faith.
The demands and necessity of gender equality are increasing with time and the improvement of society, and the Korean Church should appropriate preparations and countermoves to such social conditions and changes. To be well prepared, the Korean church needs to change hierarchical order and gender discriminatory culture in the community of faith and to use appropriately the various talents God bestows upon women. This is not different from our mission and the task of church growing in response to the needs of the present time. The NCCK Gender Equality Committee hopes that the Korean church changes into a gender equal community of faith and contributes to letting gender equality take root in Korean society.
II. Biblical Approach
Scripture proclaims that human beings are created in God’s image (Gen 1:26-28). The difference between human beings made in God’s image and other works of creation is that the former have free will and responsibility. God speaks to the humans and they respond to God. This is the reason why human beings should be valued and respected. One must not discriminate against others because of their race, gender, age or class. Discrimination by race, gender, age or class is not right or natural and conflicts with the will of the creator God.
God blessed the woman and the man created in his image. The woman and man are equal as both are the images of God and equally blessed by him. When the woman and man created separately become united, God’s image can be revealed more wholly and the blessing can be even more abundant. The beginning of domination and submission between the man and woman was the result of our sin, it is nothing to do with God’s blessing (Gen 3:16).
The human being was created to rule the world which God created. We, the images of God, represent God on the earth. We, as God’s representatives, manage this God-created world. Though we were commissioned to rule creation, we are not allowed to oppress or exploit the earth or the creatures on it. Like the ideal ruler of the ancient Mideast who secured the happiness of the people, we, human beings and God’s representatives, are the ones who rule the created world and must control our desires and take responsibility to make the flower of life blossom in harmony with other works of creation. We are not the masters of the world but a mere part of it, and have the responsibility for our own development and flourishing. Human beings, as stewards of God, have the responsibility for the world and the duty of concern for the flourishing of the whole of creation. This duty and responsibility are granted to both the woman and the man. Therefore these responsibilities and rights cannot be exclusively possessed by only one partner on the difference of gender.
The equality and cooperation between the woman and man is the order established in Christ. The power of sin, which had been breaking and distorting all the relationships between God and people, woman and man, person and person, human being and nature was eschatologically denied. In Christ there occurred the changeover of rule. As the rule of sin changed into God’s rule, the old died and the new become alive in Christ. In Christ, there is no master or slave, Jew or Greek, woman or man (Gal 3:28). The discrimination against class, race and gender which had filled human history with violence since sin had come in was overcome eschatologically. Christians are called, as we face this eschatological reality, to materialize the sovereignty of Christ in the world through struggle against contemporary discrimination against class, race or gender. The changeover of ruling power in Christ especially has a great meaning for the Christians who are struggling to realize gender equality, particularly when they try to establish gender identities after overcoming gender discrimination.
Christian gender equality education based on the core messages from the Old and New Testament emphasizes the point that both the woman and man whom God created differently, but in his same image, are beings who are responsible to God, neighbors and other parts of creation. Christian gender equality education also teaches us to materialize eschatologically the equality in this world which has already been completed in Christ.
III. Bills of Sectors
1. Education for realizing Gender Equality
Christian education leads to the goal that women and men, both created in God’s image (Gen 1:27), become rightly aware of their gender identities and that both genders, according to the stewardship bestowed on them by the creator God in the created world, learn and train together to establish the Kingdom of God where righteousness and love are practiced.
Christian education recognizes the inequality between the genders in this society and in the Church as the main reason of violence against the human rights of both genders, which were created in God’s image, and the destruction of a right and loving relationship between the genders. Therefore it critically reflects educational ideology, curriculum, activities and materials, and suggests an alternative educational polity as below.
A theological reinterpretation of the order of creation which has been used to justify patriarchal gender relationships is needed. Arranging relationships between the genders hierarchically and emphasizing the adherence of such gender roles does not respect the rights of women who were created in God’s image, causes conflict between the genders, and results in disobedience to the will of God who created the human being in his own image.
The adherence to traditional gender role models which appears in choosing the curriculum, activities and materials, regardless of whether it is done intentionally or unintentionally, must be amended and complemented according to learners’ situations and lives. To achieve this, there needs to be improvement in the gender equality awareness of education committees, staff of education departments, writers of text books and materials and people in charge of education in Church and denominations. At the same time, we should secure the participation of enlightened women in each area.
There needs to be provided an education about gender identification which forms self respect and mutual trust for both genders. The violence resulting from gender inequality is expressed in various areas such as physical, verbal, psychological and cultural abuse. Such violence destroys the self-esteem of both genders and builds a wall of distrust. This gender equality education ought to be associated with the ways and the knowledge which enable people to understand the meaning and the role of gender and which shapes friendly relationships between the genders.
In this age when social polarization is deepening, it is essential to have education about the economic aspects of gender equality. This education can then lead to resisting the power of mammon. Economical inequality and oppression are systemic foundations which encourage and maintain gender inequality. Particularly, education which focuses on overcoming the feminization of poverty is the way of learning and practicing self support and solidarity with the poor rather than expressing sympathy or charity. This can make us overcome the routine, economic inequality practiced in producing, distributing and consuming the resources; thus its benefit is not only in the area of human rights but also in the embodiment of social justice.
Gender equality education is a learning process drawing out agreement from a community to care for, to communicate with and to support the people suffering from inequality. Gender equality, in the process of learning and practicing God’s righteousness and love, changes the unilateral and uniform ruling system and traditions into mutual dependence and communication. The shared wisdom and power of both genders is needed to achieve this result and to enjoy it.
2. System for realizing Gender Equality
The expression “gender roles” means the expectation about the action or attitude considered appropriate according to the genders in a specific culture. Therefore, though the gender role is based on biological sex, it still reflects social and cultural expectations. Gender role cannot be fixed, and regarding it as unchangeable causes numerous problems. The fixed idea of the gender role is the thinking which regards a particular activity as exclusively applied according to gender. This kind of idea is the result of patriarchal history, but it is facing fundamental challenges as an anti-patriarchal culture spreads.
If the fixed gender role is learned and internalized, the individual’s scope of activity is divided into the woman’s area and the man’s. Furthermore, forced to keep that division, developing and realizing the woman’s and the man’s potential power will be limited. To the extent that the church accepts the patriarchal gender roles, it leads to the underestimation and lack of support of Christian women’s leadership and official activities in church, and limits women’s appropriate roles to those of assisting men or performing housework-like services such as cleaning the church, tidying, decorating, welcoming and managing the newcomers and preparing and serving food. These tasks are closely related to the fixed idea of gender roles. To overcome such unequal traditions and practices in the genders, a reformation of the system is essential.
● to legislate the quota system in church policy decision making processes to secure women’s participation
● to make the obligation that 30% of committee members of every committee under church assemblies are to be women
● to legislate to include 30% women representatives on church assemblies
● to legislate that 30% of committee members of regional unions and individual churches are to be women
● to newly legislate the clause that obligates the election of 30% of women elders at the time of election
(more than one woman elder should be elected when more than two elders are to be chosen)
● to invite women vice pastors (more than one vice pastor out of more than two)
1) Establishing gender equality committees in church assemblies and establishing a gender equality week
The gender equality committee in the church assembly not only affirms and encourages women’s efforts to establish the community through the serving of love in the church but also asks that individual churches and church assemblies listen to women working in the ‘service’ level, and consider what their ideal world of life and sharing would be and try to find the way to help achieve this. Establishing a gender equality week also clears any obstacles disturbing women’s leadership and gift of serving, enables unique and creative contributions possessed only by women and helps increase women’s participation in all services and decision making bodies. To conduct this role it is necessary to establish a gender equality committee in each individual church.
2) The need for providing a supporting policy to amend and complement discriminative legislative clauses against women.
Clauses such as those that limit a woman’s position up that only of deaconess, that disapprove of a couple’s ministration, and that grant consolation money of ten million Korean won for the death of a man missionary but five for a woman should be amended. Opportunities ought to be provided to women to extend their roles and duties into such as woman minister, missionary, social welfare expert and so on.
3) Gender equality curriculum, practiced in the ecumenical educational level, should be set up to improve leadership of ministers and laity.
It is important that the leadership of the ministers and the laity has gender equality awareness and a gender recognition viewpoint in the field of ministry. Therefore there should be compulsory courses such as women’s theology and gender equality leadership training, preventing sexual violence, and ecumenical training (equality and peace education). These compulsory courses should be at all levels: the various trainings organized by the assemblies and the branches such as ordination training courses, in-service training for ministers and training for elders and board members. Thus we are able to have the opportunity which can not only change unequal cultures and practices but also can lead to a policy of making horizontal and equal relationships and democratic social systems.
3. Budget for realizing Gender Equality
A budget is the essence of a policy. If gender equality is proclaimed as the policy and legislation is made, but there is no budget for it, everything becomes mere empty slogans. To realize practical gender equality and to achieve desirable church reformation, church assemblies and the individual churches should set up budgets in light of gender recognition. For the time being, the example budgets from NCCK and a few member Churches are shown to suggest a desirable establishment and execution of a gender equality budget. (attached)
1) The budget needs a gender recognition view and gender separated statistics.
In church assemblies there have been few examples of women’s and gender equality related budgets being set. Additionally to this, as not only has there barely been any concrete proof of estimation even for the budget to be executed for gender equality and also there are no gender separated statistics, one cannot find out if the gender equality view point was reflected in execution. Therefore, a budget which enables gender equality execution needs to provide gender separated statistics. As the roles of women (regardless of being laity or ministers) are extending in society, and as particularly in the church, women have been taking important roles, the policy for women should not be an empty slogan but rather become a practical and concrete polity. To achieve this, gender separated statistics are needed for the establishment of recognizing gender and executing the budget. With the gender separated statistics, gender discriminative practices can be greatly reduced, and the gender equality policies can be realized on the base of the gender separated evaluation.
2) Gender discriminative practices should be diminished through establishing a women-related budget.
There are budgets exceptionally excluding women-related areas. Though there are the budget items for other areas, there is nothing for the women-related ones. As this is a clear discrimination against women, the element of this discrimination must be removed through establishing a women-related budget.
3) Substantial gender equality must be realized through a drastic increase of an insufficient budget.
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Suggestions for the budget related policy
● Aiming to allocate 50 % of the education budget to gender equality education; to be increased annually
● In the education budget establishing separate budget items for women ministers and laity
● Introducing a quota system for women in granting scholarships
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The budget reflects the church’s policy. If the policy is to have effectiveness, an appropriate budget has to be set. Sometimes though establishing the budget is appropriate, it is hard to materialize the policy because of the short amount of money available. If the desirable budget was established then gradually increased by a realistic amount, the virtue of it will be even more valued. Therefore, an increase of the amount of the budget requires reflection on accurate needs and a realistic awareness of situations.
