[Edaily Reporter Bang Bo-kyung] "The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family is different from other ministries. It is a values-driven ministry."

Officials at the Ministry of Gender Equality, as well as anyone who has worked with the ministry even briefly, share similar views. It would be difficult to describe the Ministry of Gender Equality as a ministry that directly executes large-scale budgets or carries out national projects. Instead, its raison d’être is to examine whether government policies marginalize specific genders, generations, or social classes, and to bring hidden social inequalities to the forefront as policy issues.

In fact, it was the Ministry of Gender Equality that recommended operating “Mental Health Buses” at shipyards and reserve training centers, taking into account the tendency for men to keep mental health issues private. Similarly, as infertility policies expanded, the ministry pointed out that the burden of treatment was disproportionately falling on women and sought to reflect this in government policy.

However, the problem is that this role has been conspicuously absent recently.

The Cabinet meeting is the forum where the Ministry of Gender Equality’s raison d’être should be most evident. This is because it is tasked with identifying blind spots overlooked by other ministries and leading government-wide discussions on them.

Yet Minister Won Min-kyung has failed to proactively bring pressing issues—such as juvenile delinquency or the right to menstrual health—to the Cabinet agenda. As a result, major policies like the debate on the age of criminal responsibility for juveniles and the provision of free menstrual products were only pushed forward following remarks by the President.

The “Task Force for Intensive Promotion of Police Activities Centered on Public Safety,” launched on the 15th in response to the stabbing death of a high school girl in Gwangju, may be a snapshot of the Ministry of Gender Equality’s current standing. Although the issue of women’s safety has risen to a social priority following the death of a young woman, there is little evidence of a critical awareness regarding “violence against women.” It is also difficult to ascertain what voice the Ministry of Gender Equality has raised in this process.

Kwon Kim Hyun-young, director of the Women’s Reality Research Institute, recently told a reporter, “Even if the Ministry of Gender Equality faces criticism from other ministries, it needs to be more proactive.”

She is right. The Ministry of Gender Equality has always been a ministry that is difficult to welcome. This is because it must constantly raise issues that make some people uncomfortable. Even if it means bearing the burden of criticism, it is the Ministry’s duty to advocate for the marginalized. What Minister Won needs right now is the courage to take on that role.