The Ministry of Legislation has drawn fire from women’s organizations by interpreting child care leave in a way that could justify discrimination against female workers for taking leave to take care of their infants.

The controversy was sparked by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, which sought the Legislation Ministry’s authoritative view on the eligibility of a second-grade female librarian, who took child care leave during her six years in the office, for promotion to a first-grade position, which requires a minimum of six years work experience.

The Legislation Ministry said the female librarian was not qualified for promotion simply because she did not have six years of work experience.

The ministry’s exclusion of child care leave from work experience enraged the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Affairs and other women’s organizations. They pointed out the Legislation Ministry’s interpretation went against the Act on the Gender Equality Employment and Support for Work-Family Balance.

The law stipulates that “the period of the child care leave shall be included in the continuous service period of the employee.” It also states that “an employer shall neither dismiss nor give unfavorable treatment to a worker on account of taking child care leave.”

As the dispute escalated, the Ministry of Employment and Labor weighed in. It said the work experience period required to be qualified for a first-grade librarian is a notion that differs from the continuous service period because it refers to the period during which a person has actually carried out a certain set of tasks and acquired expertise.

In other words, the work experience period is a concept that is related with an official’s qualifications for a certain post, while the continuous service period is a notion that is used when determining issues related to an official’s employment, such as promotions and pay.

To sum up the ministry’s explanation, even though child care leave is not counted in the work experience period, it does not mean that a female official who takes child care leave would be discriminated against with respect to promotion or pay.

We do not believe this explanation is in compliance with the spirit of the law on gender equality in employment. The law is meant to encourage women to have children, as the nation’s childbirth rate is woefully low.

Although the law says female workers have the right to take child care leave, a very small number of working women actually do so. In 2010, only 8.7 percent of female workers took leave to take care of their children.

Under these circumstances, the government needs to interpret the law in a way that helps female workers have children without having to worry about discrimination.