women who have received higher education are economically active, which is much lower than the average of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries. The cause of this low employment of women can be placed on various exposures to unemployment concerns and a lack of a welfare system for child birth and child care. This is confirmed when looking at when the total fertility rate in South Korea is the far lowest (1.2 in 2008) amidst the OECD member countries. It is apparent that poverty among women is increasing as almost 70% of female workers are under a non-regular contract, 55% of women are in dispatch work, and 38% of female workers are employed in low-wage sectors earning less than 1 million Korean Won (KRW) per month. Womenization of poverty as well as povertization of women are becoming a serious issue. As the working condition for women is increasingly deteriorating as along with the current financial crisis, female workers are usually the first choice to be terminated and new job opportunities are primarily replaced by nonregular positions. 10. Since the drastic downsize in structure of the Ministry of Gender Equality, which is the main coordinating body for women policy, the effective implementation of women policy has been hampered. With the shut down of many ministries and its respective women policy divisions during the last few years, increasingly weakened gender equality policies. The Gender Discrimination Prohibition and Relief Act that was abrogated in 2005 was not replaced by any alternative act. Recent efforts to expand the current, Basic Law on Women’s Development into the Basic Law on Gender Equality are making little progress. 4. Housing 11. According the Population and Housing Census 2005, there are 1.6 million people live in poor housing conditions below the minimum standards. In detail, out of 680,000 households in South Korea, 586,000 households (1.42 million people) are living in basements (semi-basements), 50,000 households (80,000 people) are living on rooftops, and 45,000 households (11,000 people) are living in shacks, vinyl hothouses and caves. 12. The polarization of housing conditions resulted from the augmentation of rent as well as the rise in housing price which increased the burden of housing cost for lowincome families. According to the above-mentioned census, the rent to income rate of the lowest-income class reached 50.7%. 3