When Changwon City linked marriage and childbirth and loan policies to increase the population, women’s organizations criticized it. The Gyeongnam Women’s Association Association and the Gyeongsangnam-do Party of the Women’s Party said in a statement on the 7th that “Stop promoting the’marriage dream theory’ immediately.”
Changwon City is facing a’special case’ in 2022. Special cases include cities with a population of more than 1 million, and although it is a basic local government, it has autonomy in various projects.
Changwon City, which was created in 2010 by the integration of former Changwon, Masan, and Jinhae cities, is currently experiencing a’population cliff’. If you go like this, the population of 1 million people will collapse, and the designation in special cases may be in jeopardy. As of the end of August 2020, the population of Changwon City was 1.38,677. By the end of last December, however, it decreased to 10,367,738. The population is decreasing by 500 per month.
In Changwon City, the population that had been increasing for a while after integration has been on a decreasing trend since 2011-2012, and has been decreasing for 10 years. At one time, the population of Changwon city reached 1.08 million, but the 1.05 million line collapsed in 2019.
Then, ahead of the special poem, Changwon City decided to promote the’Marriage Dream Loan’ with the goal of increasing 10,000 people over the next five years by creating a’population 1 million shooter team’.
The’Marriage Dream Loan’ is a loan of 100 million won as a guarantee of Changwon City at the time of marriage, interest is exempted when giving birth to one child, 30% of the loan principal is canceled when giving birth to 2 children, and the total amount is canceled when giving birth to 3 children.
Changwon City is preparing a specific implementation plan with a target of 2,000 people per year.
Concerned about women’s group “wasting budget and amplifying feelings of alienation”
On this, local women’s organizations first came up with a negative view.
Gyeongnam Women’s Association Association (Chairman Kim Yun-ja) and Women’s Party Gyeongnam Province Party (Chairman Lee Gyeong-ok) issued a joint statement and indicated the determined will and urgency to die and protect the population of 1 million by using the term “the shooter” “It can’t be said to be the right policy,” he criticized.
They said, “The population of Changwon City is declining by 500~600 per month. Isn’t it a priority to identify the cause of the decline and come up with effective countermeasures?” “It’s a problem.”
Regarding the guarantee of a 100 million won loan at marriage, women’s organizations pointed out that “the guarantee of up to 100 million won in Changwon city will lead to insolvent for this loan afterwards.”
They also said, “It can be a policy that benefits a lot of middle-class households in situations where they can have children and raise children,” and said, “It could be an exclusion of the policy for double-income couples.”
Above all, they predicted that “this policy has completely excluded the gender perspective. The policy for the population leaving Changwon City, especially for women and young adults in their 20s, is marginalized, so that the outflow of the population may occur more around them.”
“Young women in their twenties say they want to leave Changwon as soon as they hear this news. In addition to the situation that they are leaving Changwon because they do not have a job, they are marginalized by policy.” I would like to ask if it is a policy to do it.”
A women’s group that explained a similar policy in Hungary said, “There is no country that has succeeded when simply implementing the low birth rate policy of all countries in the world, and there is a need for a policy to increase the birth rate in the short term. “There are also gender discrimination factors such as caring and childcare imposed on women,” he said.
Gyeongnam Women’s Association Association, Women’s Party Gyeongnam Province Party said, “Changwon City should not waste budget and amplify feelings of alienation due to an unreasonable short-term policy of childbirth, but give young people an opportunity to expand jobs and challenge them.”
At the same time, they said, “With a long-term policy, we should improve the sexist culture to create Changwon, where young women want to give birth to children.”