As many women enter a job market, women’s social positions are becoming equal with men’s, and awareness of sex in Korea has developed. However, the tendency that people have about hiding sex problems has remained. There is the Gender Equality Counseling Center (GECC), which informs about the importance of sexual problems, and counsels and solves the problems in CBNU.
The GECC is helping to stabilize the students’ worries about sexual problems by counseling and solving the problems.
The methods to use the GECC are different from situation to situation. If students want to counsel about their worries simply, there is nothing to prepare. However, if they report cases such as sexual harassment or sexual violence, they have to decide whether they will deal with it in an informal or a formal way. If students deal with the problem in an informal way, it can be solved by counseling. However, if not, it would be better to prepare evidence, such as text messages or a witness for reinvestigation.
The GECC is executing many programs to prevent sexual harassment and elevate its recognition. It is listening to the opinions from the General Women Students’ Association and women staff members through discussion meetings. The GECC also offers chances to obtain knowledge about sexual harassment and gender equality for students by engaging the experts in the Korean Institute for Gender Equality Promotion and Education.
Kim Jeong-nae, the counselor of the GECC, said, “In fact, the users of the GECC are few. It is because there are students who feel an aversion for the words such as prevention of sexual harassment and gender equality. Students have to have an interest in thinking that sexual problems are ‘our’ problems.”