In July of 2005, a petition was filed by Ms. Sung with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) against the principal of an elementary school located in South Chungcheong province, stating that “giving top numbers on the attendance sheet to male students and latter numbers to female students is discrimination.” In response, the Commission recommended the principal to give the student numbers to both genders regardless of gender to prevent discrimination.
The elementary school has given male students numbers 1 to 40 on the attendance sheet and female students 41 and over. In each gender group, the earlier they were born, the lower number they will get. The school explained that giving student numbers based on gender made managing the students easier along with other reasons. However, the school went on to say that after gathering the opinions of parents, beginning next year, other methods including giving the numbers in alphabetical order or by day of birth will be implemented.
Nevertheless, the Commission concluded that the practice of giving later numbers to female students may unconsciously instill the idea from childhood that males are superior to females, and accordingly that the male students have more positive attitudes while females are more negative. Therefore, the Commission recommended the principal to grant the numbers on the attendance sheet in a way that gender-based discrimination does not take place any more.
The Commission expects this recommendation to be a chance to abolish any unreasonable gender discriminatory practices. –End-
