Proposal to Set Up Nurseries

One day in October Juche 34 (1945) the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung met an official of the then Women’s Emancipation Union (the present-day Socialist Women’s Union of Korea) to discuss some problems regarding the work of the union.

Learning that some women found it hard to join the effort to build a new country as they had nowhere to entrust their children, Kim Il Sung, after a while of deep thinking, said in a resolute voice that it was absolutely necessary to set up nurseries. 

He said: Women’s claiming equality cannot simply bring them their equality with men. Also, merely granting the legal right to equality does not immediately mean substantial equality. We should make sure that all women, instead of staying at home idly, join the effort to build a new country free from the burden of household chores like men. For the women to go out into the world, it is necessary to set up nurseries.

The women’s union official expressed her thanks for his kindly concern to put forward the women, who had been subjected to all kinds of maltreatment without any right, as legitimate masters of the country.

This was how the first nursery came into existence in the country, which was followed by others throughout the country. Thus the women were freed from the heavy burden of household chores and took active part in the building of a new society.

Today in the DPRK nurseries look after the children, who are not old enough to go to kindergarten, in all the residential areas, both urban and rural, and at workplaces if necessary in terms of the number of women workers. The state bears the entire responsibility for the supply of materials needed for the upbringing and education of the children.