A Historical Event That Brought About a Turnaround in the Destiny of Our Women

The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un said as follows:

"The Great Leader promulgated the Law on Sex Equality, bringing about an epochal change in the status of women and raising them into a powerful force pushing forward one wheel of the revolution."

80 years have already passed since that unforgettable day when the whole country heavily boiled with immense emotion and joy upon greeting the historical event of the promulgation of the Law on Sex Equality.

Greeting the meaningful day when a fundamental turnaround in the status and role of our women was provided, the people of the whole country warmly engrave the proud image of our women who have reliably pushed forward one wheel of the revolution under the warm care of the great Party.

Those images proudly testify that the traces of our women who have stoutly walked the single road of revolution and patriotism shoulder to shoulder with men are clearly engraved in the sacred history of our country, which is shining with victory and glory.

Therefore, the people of the whole country, greeting the anniversary of the promulgation of the Law on Sex Equality, respectfully pay their boundless gratitude to the peerlessly great men who provided our women with true lives.

July 30, 1946, was an ordinary day flowing in the history of our country.

However, people did not realize that this day would be engraved in the history of the country as a day of special note in our revolutionary history and a day of event when a dramatic turnaround took place in the destiny of our women.

On this day, the 11th Session of the Provisional People's Committee established in the liberated country was held in Pyongyang under the guidance of the Great Leader.

The Great Leader, who appeared on the platform with a bright smile on his face, declared the opening of the session and said that the session would adopt the law on sex equality.

Looking up to the sacred image of the Great Leader speaking passionately on the rostrum of the session, the hearts of the participants of the session beat heavily with indescribable excitement.

There were some participants who repeatedly chewed over the term sex equality, unable to believe the surprising reality that women would be provided with the same rights and freedom as men.

Then, the excited voice of the Secretary General of the Provisional People's Committee reading the draft law on sex equality at the proposal of the Great Leader echoed through the meeting hall.

Composed of 9 articles detailing the granting of equal rights to women in all spheres of social life such as politics, economy, and culture, the draft law aroused great emotion among the participants.

Deep emotion shone in the eyes of the Great Leader listening to the draft law.

Looking back, what great heart and soul and efforts the Great Leader had devoted to providing women with genuine freedom and liberation and complete equality.

As he keenly felt more than anyone else that the revolution and construction could not be successfully pushed forward by the strength of men alone, it was the Great Leader who clarified the human equality without discrimination between sexes, the elevation of the social treatment of women and the respect for women's personality as the task for women's emancipation in the Ten-Point Programme of the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland presented during the days of the anti-Japanese struggle.

The Great Leader, who saw to it that the women's union was founded for the first time among social organizations after liberation, ensured that women were distributed land with equal rights with men during the agrarian reform, and made sure that women were specially protected in their labor life and a social insurance system was enforced when the labor law was enforced;

How ardent was his feeling to completely emancipate women from the feudal legacies and maltreatment that had lasted for ages and train them into revolutionaries capable of forcefully pushing forward the building of a new country, that the Great Leader personally drafted the law on sex equality letter by letter.

On that historical day, the Great Leader announced to the whole audience that all members agreed to adopt the law on sex equality.

The promulgation of the law on sex equality did not merely mean granting women the exact same rights as men.

It was a historical event that liberated our women from feudal maltreatment and contempt and newly bore them as revolutionaries who reliably push forward one wheel of the revolution, and it was like a powerful declaration heralding the greater victory of the revolution to be achieved by their vigorous struggle.

All our women who faced the historical event of the promulgation of the law on sex equality cried and laughed with emotion and shouted at the top of their voices.

"Long live the promulgation of the Law on Sex Equality!"

"Long live General Kim Il Sung!"

This passionate cheer that shook the whole country and resonated endlessly was an infinite eruption of boundless gratitude and reverence bursting out in respect for the peerlessly great man who placed our women as the proud masters of social development.

Indeed, the Law on Sex Equality was a code of love that could only be enacted by the Great Leader, who possessed the warmest love for human beings and devoted endless heart and soul and efforts to putting the lives of all our people at the pinnacle of independent dignity and happiness.

The historical event of the promulgation of the Law on Sex Equality, unprecedented anywhere in this world, conveys even today:

That a dramatic turnaround takes place in the destiny of the people, true life blooms, and a bright future unfolds when they hold the peerlessly great man in high esteem.

The endless glory of Korean women, whom the Great Leader and the Great General cared for and highly valued with ardent love and affection throughout their lives, is radiating brighter today thanks to the respected General Secretary.

The future of our Korean women advancing under the leadership of the respected General Secretary, holding him in high esteem, is endlessly bright and promising.

Reporter of the Head Office, Rim Jong Ho

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The Patriotic Course of the Korean Women Who Have Pushed Forward One Wheel of the Revolution Under the Leadership of the Party

The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un said as follows:

"White gem-like loyalty to the Party and the leader, spirit of devoted service to the country and the people, and noble sense of moral obligation are the ideological and spiritual traits of the women of our country, and it is a great pride of our Party and people to have such a large contingent of excellent women revolutionaries."

Along with the law on sex equality promulgated for the first time in history by the Great Leader, that historical declaration of women's emancipation, our women have vividly engraved their course in every decade of the revolution, demonstrating the mettle of Korean women with equal rights to men for 80 long years.

During the period of building a new country, our women vigorously turned out in the general ideological mobilization movement for nation-building, the emulation drive for increased production, and the anti-illiteracy campaign in order to repay the sky-high benevolence of the Great Leader who provided them with true social rights. In those days, women engraved great labor feats in establishing the people's power and consolidating the people's democratic system by displaying high enthusiasm and creative talents in the struggle to rehabilitate factories and mines destroyed by the Japanese imperialists, develop the rural economy, and increase food production.

Even in the days of the fierce and tragic war, women bravely rushed to the front, upholding the patriotic appeal of the Great Leader calling them to war victory, and unhesitatingly devoted their youth and lives in the life-and-death decisive battle to repel the aggressors, in which course over 10 heroes and nearly 20,000 state honorees were produced. Among them are numerous women heroes and women patriots who devoted their all for the war victory, including heroes An Yong Ae, Jo Sun Ok, Thae Son Hui, Jo Ok Hui, and Sin Pho Hyang.

After the war, when everything was destroyed and not a single brick was left intact, the songs of rehabilitation and construction sung by our women vigorously echoed everywhere, and during the period of the great Chollima upswing, countless reliable women Chollima riders who created the Korean miracle on the road of carrying out the tasks given by the leader and the oath sworn before the Party were born, holding high the slogan "One for all and all for one!" like heroes Ri Sin Ja, Jon Ok Hwa, and the maiden fishers of the "Youth Women Hero, Daughter of the Workers' Party of Korea" boats. By 1965, the number of heroes produced among women reached over 60, and state honorees over 47,000, and tens of thousands of women entered the ranks of technicians, including over 35,000 university graduates. The single fact that the proportion of women in the labor force of the national economy of our country exceeded 48% in 1970 shows the patriotic fervor of the previous generation of women revolutionaries who grew up as patriotic workers in the bosom of the Party and created dazzling miracles and innovations in every major front of socialist construction.

Even during the period of hardship when the country was so difficult, our women firmly believed in and followed only the Great General and staunchly supported the motherland.

In the great new era, our women are exalting their dignity and honor as women revolutionaries to a higher level on the road of loyally supporting the leadership of the respected General Secretary.

Under the grateful care of the Party which warmly takes them by the hand and leads them to shine their patriotic lives by becoming the foundation stones and manure supporting the era and the revolution, the family and the society, a large contingent of women revolutionaries has rapidly grown up over the past ten odd years. In those days, numerous women who have vividly left traces of true lives on the road for the country and the people while forcefully pushing forward one wheel of the revolution were awarded the highest orders and prizes of our country and the highest prize of the Korean youth bearing the august names of the peerlessly great men.

Dozens of women who made brilliant contributions to the history of development of our Republic by handing down white gem-like loyalty to the Party as an unchanging soul and precious heritage were awarded the title of Hero. Among them are scientists, educators, workers, and farmers who silently dedicate their whole lives at the workplaces and posts entrusted by the Party, as well as sports persons who demonstrated the mettle of Korean women, bringing honor to the country all over the world and flying the flag of the Republic high in the sky of the world.

In the days of unsparingly devoting their all for the prosperity and development of the socialist country, numerous women officials and working people grew into deputies to the people's assemblies at all levels and bore the high honor of socialist patriotic merit earners who enjoy the respect and love of society and the collective. Numerous women working people who have silently devoted their whole lives at the posts entrusted by the Party with pure conscience were awarded honorary titles and bore the honor of high state commendations.

In the vanguard of women highly placed by the Party as paragons to be emulated by the women of our era are communist mothers. Following the awarding of the Communist Mother Honor Prize to 20 ordinary women for the first time at the Fifth National Conference of Mothers, over 50 women across the country have so far borne the high honor of communist mothers.

Realizing that building a powerful socialist country is a sacred patriotic cause for the prosperity of the country and the happiness of all generations to come, countless women volunteered and advanced to difficult and arduous fronts called by the Party and unsparingly dedicated beads of patriotic sweat, and their number has reached a whopping 440,000 in the past five years alone.

In the course of thinking of the country first before the happiness and peace of their own families and finding innumerable good things to do for the society and the collective, over 230 exemplary Women's Union officials called "our" have been produced, the number of primary Women's Union organizations that won the title of exemplary organization of loyalty has exceeded a staggering 63,000, and over 2,100 Women's Union organizations have been awarded the title of Socialist Patriotic Forest.

Upholding the noble intention of the Party which puts forward the work of educating the younger generation as an important affair of the country and spares nothing for it, in recent years, numerous women in various regions vigorously waged a good-deeds movement with the feelings of caring for their own children and prepared "Mother" school boats and sent them to students in remote mountain villages in North Phyongan and South Phyongan, South Hwanghae, and Kangwon Provinces.

The news that women prepared proud "Women's Union" armed equipment named after them and sent them to the soldiers of the People's Army, holding the thorough creed that without the country, there is no true life, harmonious family, and happy life for themselves and their descendants, and the news that they sent numerous "Women's Union" farm machines prepared in the course of briskly waging mass movements to actively contribute to agricultural production to rural villages across the country by engraving in their hearts the intention of the Party which always pays deep attention to the agricultural development of the country, also aroused the emotion of everyone.

The noble outlook on life of our women who have made it part of their nature to dedicate their all to the work for society, the collective, and comrades while taking care of war veterans, honored disabled soldiers, and parentless children as their own flesh and blood, and their zeal to repay the grateful benevolence of the Party that enabled them to enjoy highly valuable lives as proud masters of the era, have added to the stout breath of our country advancing with united strength, helping and leading each other forward.

It is the greatest pride and honor for our country and people to have a large contingent of women revolutionaries and women patriots who are leaving traces of patriotism on the road for the prosperity of the country with boundless loyalty to the Party.

On the road of loyally supporting the leadership of the respected General Secretary, our women will thoroughly demonstrate the dignity and mettle peculiar to Korean women in the future, too, and their proud patriotic course will radiate brighter along with the vigorous advance of my country.

Reporter of the Head Office, An Jong Chol

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True Story Stage of the Officials and Members of the Women's Union Held to Commemorate the 80th Anniversary of the Promulgation of the Law on Sex Equality

A true story stage of the officials and members of the Women's Union "We are Korean Women" in commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the promulgation of the Law on Sex Equality was held at the Women's Hall on the 29th.

Comrade Jon Hyang Sun, Chairwoman of the Central Committee of the Socialist Women's Union of Korea, Women's Union officials, and Women's Union members in Pyongyang City participated in it.

The performers highly praised the immortal exploits of the peerlessly great men who emancipated women from all sorts of social inequalities and feudal fetters and led them to actively contribute to the sacred struggle for the victory of the socialist cause.

The stories conveying the world of ardent love and affection of the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un, who took deep-benevolent measures to ensure that the 8th Congress of the Socialist Women's Union of Korea was grandly held as an assembly of special note in the history of the Korean women's movement and even took a glorious commemorative photo with them, enveloped the hall with the feelings of boundless reverence for the great father.

When women who regard assisting the army as the greatest patriotism and are invariably walking the road of assisting the army to visit the soldiers standing guard over the defense lines of the country, and Women's Union members who are actively finding out and doing various good things for the prosperity and flourishing of the country took the stage, the participants gave enthusiastic applause.

The stories of the women who beautifully cultivate the large socialist flower garden with virtue and affection, devoting their all for the collective and comrades before themselves, brought home to them where the true life and worth of human beings in our era lie.

The performers expressed their resolution to fulfill their missions and basic duties as true women revolutionaries, genuine patriots, and communist mothers in the worthwhile struggle for thoroughly implementing the decisions of the Party Congress, loyally supporting the ideology and leadership of the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un.

The true story stage, which added to the revolutionary enthusiasm of the women to invariably walk the single road of loyalty and patriotism firmly united around the great Party Central Committee, ended with the songs "Long Live Our Korea" and "O Party, Because You Are Here".

[Korean Central News Agency]