Seoul Women's Family Foundation asks citizens: Is the AI era gender-equal?

As AI works its way deeper into everyday life, reducing gender bias in the information and images that technology produces has emerged as a new challenge for gender equality. The Seoul Women's Family Foundation is marking Gender Equality Week with a citizen-participatory program linking AI and gender equality.

The foundation said it will hold a Gender Equality Week commemoration at Seoul Women's Plaza from Tuesday through Friday under the theme "The Future of Seoul, Gender Equality in the AI Era."

The event was designed to let citizens examine, together, the potential for gender stereotypes and bias to be embedded in the images and information AI systems generate, at a time when the technology is spreading rapidly across society. Rather than focusing on technological advancement itself, the program centers on whether AI operates fairly for everyone — viewed through the lens of gender equality.

This year's event departs from the ceremony-heavy format of past Gender Equality Week observances, instead organizing films, exhibitions and hands-on experiences so citizens can engage directly with the theme. The aim is to expand gender equality beyond a policy agenda and into a subject people can experience and reflect on in their daily lives.

The centerpiece programs are the "2026 Seoul Gender Equality Policy Awards" and an "AI-Based Gender Equality Monitoring Group Results Showcase," both held Thursday. The events will share examples of gender equality in practice at policy sites while presenting findings from citizens who scrutinized gender bias in AI environments.

A film program will also offer a lens on gender equality. At 11 a.m. Thursday, the foundation will screen "I Wish My Mom Were the Main Character," directed by Im Ji-young and selected through the foundation's youth women's film production project. At 5 p.m., director Lee Ji-won's "Agam-ppyeo Iyagi" — produced with support from the Korean Institute for Gender Equality Promotion and Education's Film×Gender program — will be shown.

The exhibitions are designed to illustrate the relationship between AI and gender equality in an intuitive way. From Tuesday through Friday, Seoul Women's Plaza will host three exhibitions: "Gender Equality Created by AI," "Gender Equality That Changed Everyday Life: Seoul's Story," and "Seoul Smart Women."

The displays cover AI-generated gender-equality imagery, outstanding cases from gender impact assessments, and domestic and international gender-equality indicators, connecting technology, policy and citizens' daily lives. The program demonstrates that gender equality is not a policy task confined to a specific field but is bound up with change across society as a whole.

Around Gender Equality Week, a series of arts and culture programs combining talks, music and visual art will also run, allowing citizens to encounter the meaning of gender equality naturally through cultural content rather than through policy or regulatory explanations.

"As AI technology enters our lives at speed, it is important that we examine together whether the changes it brings are fair and equal for everyone," said Park Jeong-suk, chief executive of the Seoul Women's Family Foundation. "I hope this Gender Equality Week gives citizens a chance to think together about gender equality in the AI era and to experience its value in daily life through policy, technology, culture and the arts."

The foundation plans to use the event as a springboard to broaden public awareness of emerging gender-equality challenges in the AI era and to spread the value of gender equality across diverse fields including policy, technology, and culture and the arts.

Details of the 2026 Gender Equality Week commemoration are available on the foundation's website.