Soojin Lee of Democratic Party Proposes Disclosure of Gender Employment and Wage Gaps... Introduces Amendment to the Framework Act on Gender Equality

Introduction of the Employment Equality Disclosure System and the Employment Gender Equality Index

Soojin Lee, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, announced on August 10 that she has sponsored a partial amendment to the Framework Act on Gender Equality to introduce the "employment equality disclosure system" and the "employment gender equality index."

According to statistics released by the OECD for 2023, South Korea's gender wage gap stands at 29.3%, the largest among all member countries. In addition, the Ministry of Employment and Labor's 2025 Survey on Employment Types found that women's hourly wages are only 72.0% of men's hourly wages.

Sujin Lee, member of the Democratic Party of Korea. Photo by Yonhap News

Current law requires public institutions and other relevant bodies to disclose information such as the number of executives by gender and salary status. However, there are criticisms that the current system has limitations in identifying the underlying causes and structural issues of gender inequality.

In response, the government has announced that, as a national policy task for creating a gender-equal workplace, it will introduce an "employment equality wage disclosure system" and build a related pubic disclosure system to systematically and comprehensively release wage data by gender. However, as there is no legal basis for this, relevant legislation was necessary.

This amendment proposal aims to: ▲ establish and introduce the Employment Gender Equality Index in conjunction with the National Gender Equality Index, and ▲ adopt the "employment equality disclosure" system, requiring employers subject to disclosure (such as public institutions) to publicly release the employment status and wage gap between male and female employees. Employers who fail to submit required data or submit false information will be subject to a fine of up to 5 million won.

Assemblywoman Lee stated, "In order to create a gender-equal workplace, it is essential to identify the specific realities of gender wage disparity and use this information to address underlying structural problems," adding, "I will push for swift discussions in the standing committee to ensure that the employment equality disclosure system, a national policy task of the Lee Jae-myung administration, can be implemented."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.