The Laws Promoting Social Change On North Korean Women
The Provisional People’s Committee promulgated various laws promoting social change, such as the Law on Land Reforms, the Law on Sex Equality, the Labor Law and the Law on the Nationalization of Essential Industries."
The most progressive change in the traditional position of women was the Law on Sex Equality, announced on July 30, 1946. This law emphasized equal rights in all spheres, free marriage and divorce, and equal rights to inherit property and to share property in case of divorce. It ended arranged marriages, polygamy, concubinage, the buying and selling of women, prostitution, and the professional entertainer system."
The North Korean Labor Law defined women’s rights at work. Articles 14 through 17 stipulated the rights of mothers and pregnant women, including seventy-seven days of maternity leave with full pay, paid baby-feeding breaks during work, a prohibition against overtime or night work for pregnant or nursing women, and the transfer of pregnant women to easier work with equal pay."
In addition, the Law on Nationalization of Essential Industries weakened the economic power of a patriarch by eliminating of private property."
Unlike in South Korea where women struggled to abolish the family feudal system, the Democratic Women's Union of North Korea replaced family registry system based on male lineage (family feudal system)with a new citizen registry system. Therefore giving more power to the women in purchasing and owning land.
Due to these changes in society the family structure drastically changed from the traditional systems; clans eventually disappeared, the family lineage-book system was completely destroyed, and a nuclear family system began to emerge. Thus making women in society more equal to men.
Although there are new laws created to make women more equal to men, it is highly arguable that women in North Korea are completely equal to men in society. Opportunities for women have been greatly expanded, however with certain aspects they are still not equal to men in society. There is evidence that the male gets paid higher than females in North Korea. Thus, The wage difference reflects the unequal representation of women in various occupational structures, which indicates a sexual division of labor.
Read more about this topic: Women In North Korea
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