Korean Association of National University Women Professors (KANUWP) Inaugural Forum: Policies to Promote Gender Equality in the University 

The Korean Association of National University Women Professors (KANUWP) was officially founded through this event, held on Mar. 31, 2017 at SNU’s Asia Center. Until this point, most systematic efforts toward gender equality or the development of female faculty have been carried out in a top-down fashion, based on national government policies instead of lead by universities themselves, and while each national university has a female professors’ association, a lack of clarity at many institutions about who is responsible for promoting the gender equality agenda meant that the associations have not been receiving effective support from their administrations. As one of the major institutions shaping youth before they join society, universities have a special responsibility to become models of gender equality. If female professors’ associations at each university work together and share information, they will be more effective in bringing about systematic changes through activities such as recommending policies to the executive branch of the national government and other important bodies. 

The SNU Diversity Council co-hosted the inaugural forum with the SNU Women Faculty Council and held a connected policy forum on the topic of “Policies to Promote Gender Equality in the University: Present Situation and Future Prospects”. At the policy forum, Professor Hye-Kyung Kim (Chonbuk National University Dept. of Sociology), chairperson of the Korean Association of Women’s Studies, read an essay titled, “The Democratization of the Faculty Community Hinges on Gender-equal Hiring”. Professor Cho Eun-su (SNU Dept. of Philosophy), chairperson of the SNU Women Faculty Council, introduced some real-life examples of gender equality policies and made suggestions for improvement efforts that KANUWP could pursue, such as amendment of the Public Educational Officials Act.

Forum Goals 

• ​Addressing the lack of clarity at many national universities about who is responsible for promoting the gender equality agenda and resulting lack of effective support from university administrations for the activities of women professors’ councils
• Forming a national association of women professors’ councils in order to bring about systematic change by promoting the gender equality agenda through collaboration and information-sharing among councils and recommending policies to the government and universities

Forum Summary

• ​Part 1. Establishment of the Korean Association of National University Women Professors
• Part 2. Policies Promoting Gender Equality in the University: Present Situation and Future Prospects
  • National government policies promoting gender equality in the university
  • The democratization of the faculty community hinges on gender-equal hiring
  • University efforts to increase faculty diversity: the case of Seoul National University