A/HRC/25/CRP.1 304. Recognizing that legislation alone would not liberate women from patriarchy and bring about equality, Kim Il-sung sought to liberate the women of the DPRK by promoting their full integration into the labour force. According to Kim Il-sung, in a liberated Korea, “women … can achieve complete emancipation only if they strive with no less devotion and awareness than men to solve the problems arising on the productive fronts of the factories and countryside”.344 In 1961, at the National Meeting of Mothers, he advised: “An important question in Women’s Union activities in the past was to wipe out illiteracy and eliminate the feudalistic ideas that oppressed the women. But this work no longer seems to be of major importance in our society. Today, the Women’s Union should actively campaign for women’s participation in socialist construction and bend its efforts to provide conditions that will allow them to work well.”345 305. In order to enable women to dedicate themselves fully to the public economy, Kim Il-sung advocated in 1946 that the state should take steps to rear children.346 To this end, the 1972 Socialist Constitution codified the measures to be taken so that women could take part in public life. These included paid maternity leave, free nurseries and kindergartens, and reduced working time for mothers with young families.347 The responsibility of the state to bring up children and protect working mothers was further enshrined in the 1976 Law on Nursing and Upbringing of Children and the 1978 Labour Law which provided that women with three of more children would be paid for eight hours but required to work only six. Indeed, state childcare services expanded exponentially under Kim Il-sung. In 1949, there were reportedly 12 nurseries and 116 kindergartens. In 1961, there were 7,600 nurseries and 45,000 kindergartens. By 1976, almost 100 per cent of the 3.5 million children could attend one of the 60,000 nurseries and kindergartens.348 306. The pronouncement of legal and social arrangements to achieve equal rights by DPRK leaders was to some degree aimed at abolishing the traditional family structure. The emphasis on liberation of women through labour led to a decline in the economic power of the patriarch, and the “socialization” of childrearing served to break down the traditional family structure. The projection of Kim Il-sung as the father-figure further added to the reconfiguration of society, in which Kim Il-sung was the patriarchal head and DPRK nationals his children. Although the commitment to abolish the feudal family was portrayed as necessary to achieve gender equality, in reality this neither served women’s liberation nor the family unit. With women free from their “shackles”, they could devote themselves fully to the state (as men were already expected to do). Having children in the care of the state further served to strengthen the leader’s position as they could be taught to think of the leader as their father, and pledge their allegiance to him over their own family. This proved to be a key ingredient to maintaining control, as having children under the responsibility of the state from a young age provided for many years of indoctrination.349 The weakening of familial relationships, coupled with the failed economy and severe food shortages across the country at different points in time, has deeply impacted children. In some cases, this has led to their being institutionalized, abandoned and vulnerable to poor health and abuses against them.350 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 86 Ibid, 8. Ibid, 9. Ibid, 9. Socialist Constitution of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (1972), article 62. Kim Il-sung, “On Further Developing the Nursing and Upbringing of Children. Speech delivered at the sixth session of the fifth Supreme People’s Assembly”, 29 April 1976. See section IV.A. See section IV.C.