ABSTRACT
Chapter 6 explores activities of the Women’s Bureau (WB, a successor to the BWM) to amend the 1986 Equal Employment Opportunity Law (the 1986 EEOL) that had made only a small impact in rectifying gender inequality in employment. The decision-making process for the 1999 Equal Employment Opportunity Law (the 1999 EEOL) was smoother than that for the 1986. In particular, the WB could set the amendment issue as a significant political agenda easily because the revision clause was included in the law per se. Moreover, the apparent ineffectiveness of the 1986 EEOL, the weak administrative power of the WB, litigations against indirect discrimination to women workers, and international pressure pushed the WB to give priority to the amendment. The most significant difference between the decision-making processes of the 1986 and 1999 laws for equal employment opportunity was that the labor unions voluntarily withdrew the demand for removing the general protective measures for women in 1999. What social, economic, and political forces created the smooth decision-making process? What roles did the WB play in the decision-making process for the amendment of the 1986 EEOL? These are the major questions to be answered in this chapter.
