Gyeonggi Province Selects 6 Winning Entries from 331 Submissions for 'Gender Discrimination Language Improvement' Contest

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hun] Gyeonggi Province announced on the 3rd that it has selected 6 winning entries, including 'Nanny → Child care worker (Childcare provider),' as a result of conducting a 'Gender Discrimination Language Improvement' contest to raise awareness of gender equality in daily life.

The province conducted the contest from the 1st to the 16th to replace gender-discriminatory language that reflects remnants of patriarchal values and male preference ideology with gender-equal language.

For 331 proposals received through the contest, the province's Women's Policy Division, language experts, and women's organizations conducted two rounds of screening based on the need for improvement, relatability, and potential for dissemination.

According to screening scores, ▲Nanny → Child care worker/Childcare provider and ▲Feminine/masculine tone → Soft/strong tone were jointly selected as Grand Prize winners, ▲Baby bottle → Nursing bottle was selected as an Excellent Prize winner, and ▲Green Mothers Association → School Route Safety Guardian/School Route Safety Volunteer ▲Nanny → Childcare assistant/Childcare professional/Childcare aide ▲Green Mothers Association → Safety Guardian and three other entries were selected for Encouragement Prize.

The submitters of the selected entries stated that the term "nanny" not only reflects the prejudice that childcare is a woman's role but also excludes male childcare workers.

They also pointed out that the commonly used terms "feminine tone" and "masculine tone" in Korean language classes further reinforce gender stereotypes among students.

Regarding "baby bottle," the proposal suggested that it is more appropriate to focus on the act of nursing itself rather than expressing female body parts, and regarding the Green Mothers Association, the argument was that it creates a fixed notion that only mothers are caregivers of children and discriminates against diverse families.

Additionally, proposals such as ▲School parents → Guardians/Caregivers ▲Mom cafe → Todamdodam Cafe ▲Women-only parking space → Considerate parking zone ▲Apron → Protective bib/Protective vest ▲Hymen → Vaginal membrane ▲Bamboo wife → Bamboo pillow received high scores.

The province plans to produce campaign videos based on the proposed terms to encourage provincial residents to use gender-equal language and promote awareness of gender equality.

Kim Mi-sung, Director of the Women's Policy Division of Gyeonggi Province, said, "I thank the province's residents who actively discovered gender-discriminatory language that we have been using unconsciously," and added, "I believe that the small practices of changing language in our daily lives will come together to advance a gender-equal and discrimination-free society."

Meanwhile, among the 331 applicants to the contest, the gender distribution of applicants showed 65.6% female and 34.4% male.

By age group, teenagers (32%) were the most prevalent, followed by those in their 40s (19.64%), 30s (19.36%), 20s (17.22%), 50s (7.25%), and 60s (4.53%).