[Edaily Reporter Lee Ji-hyun ] The head of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family is set to change from a women’s rights attorney to a re-elected politician in her 30s. Following Minister Won Min-kyung—who served as the first Minister of Gender Equality and Family under the Lee Jae-myung administration after a long career in women’s rights advocacy—the nomination of Representative Yong Hye-in of the Basic Income Party, who has personally championed issues related to childbirth, childcare, and caregiving as political priorities, has raised questions about whether the ministry’s policy direction will shift.

President Lee Jae-myung nominated Rep. Yong as the candidate for Minister of Gender Equality and Family on the 30th. Born in 1990, candidate Yong is 36 years old and a two-term lawmaker who served in the 21st and 22nd National Assemblies.

Minister Won and Nominee Yong have different starting points. Minister Won is a women’s rights lawyer who has addressed issues of violence against women and gender discrimination, having served as chair of the Women’s Rights Committee of the Lawyers for a Democratic Society and as a board member of the Korean Women’s Hotline. She was appointed as the first Minister of Gender Equality and Family upon the launch of the Lee Jae-myung administration and subsequently led the effort to expand and reorganize the ministry into the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family.

Nominee Yong is a sitting politician who entered the National Assembly after a career in civil society. She gained recognition in 2014 during the Sewol Ferry disaster by proposing a “Stay Still” silent march and spearheaded the founding of the Basic Income Party. After entering the 21st National Assembly in 2020, she was re-elected in the 22nd general election, becoming a second-term lawmaker.

In particular, she has drawn attention for linking her personal experiences with childbirth and parenting to political agendas. Candidate Yong gave birth to a son in May 2021 while serving as a sitting lawmaker. Two months later, she stood at a press conference in the National Assembly’s Communication Hall holding her 59-day-old son. She was there to urge the passage of the “Act on Bringing Children into National Assembly Chambers,” which she had sponsored. The bill aimed to allow infants under 24 months who require breastfeeding to accompany their parents into National Assembly chambers, thereby enabling lawmakers to balance childbirth, childcare, and their legislative duties.

Two years later, she stood once again at a National Assembly press conference with her two-year-old son. In May 2023, one day before Children’s Day, she held her then 23-month-old son and proposed eliminating “no-kids zones” and moving toward a “First Kids Korea.” She argued that the responsibility for care should be expanded to society as a whole, starting with the elimination of “no-kids zones” in public facilities and the introduction of a “Kids Fast Track” for families with children.

She has also addressed issues of gender equality, family, and caregiving within the National Assembly. She served on the Committee on Gender Equality and Family and has spoken out on issues of family diversity, such as by proposing the Domestic Partnership Act, which provides legal protection for relationships in which people care for one another even if they are not bound by marriage or blood ties.

The differences in their professional backgrounds offer insight into the future policy direction of the Ministry of Gender Equality. While Minister Won has focused on responding to gender-based violence and strengthening government-wide gender equality policies based on her expertise gained in the field of women’s rights, Nominee Yong has linked gender equality to a broader range of social policies, including childbirth and child-rearing, caregiving, diverse family structures, and social safety nets. Given her consistent advocacy for a basic income and the expansion of social safety nets, it remains to be seen what changes she will bring to family policies, such as childcare support for single-parent and multicultural families.

Policy continuity is another challenge. Since its inception, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family has strengthened its role in overseeing and coordinating government-wide gender equality policies while expanding response systems to address gender-based violence, such as digital sex crimes, dating violence, and stalking. How Nominee Yong balances continuing the existing policy direction with integrating the issues she has emphasized—such as caregiving and family diversity—is expected to shape the future direction of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family.