Gender inequality in South Korea
In South Korea, gender inequality is derived from deeply rooted patriarchal ideologies with specifically defined gender-roles.
[1][2][3] While it remains especially prevalent in South Korea's economy and politics, gender inequality has decreased in healthcare and education.
[2] In comparison to other countries, South Korea scores highest on Health and Survival (84th), then Political Empowerment (90th), then Educational Attainment (105th), and ranks the lowest on Economic Participation and Equality (121st).
[citation needed] Gender inequality in South Korea is largely rooted in the country's Confucian ideals and has been perpetuated and deepened by historical practices and events, such as Japanese forced sex slavery and Park Geun-Hye's scandal.
[8][9] However, contemporary South Korea has made great strides in attempting to reduce gender inequality through legislation and policymaking.
[12] Another key teaching in Confucian literature that directly influences the subjugation of women are the Three Obediences and the Four Virtues, guidelines that describe how a woman should behave in society.
"[19] In the comfort station, the victims aged between 17 and 22 had to deal with about 7 to 8 Japanese soldiers a day in small rooms that were separated from one another by cloth.
[23] Instead, she was put into militarized sexual slavery in Japanese occupied territories for eight years, including Guangdong, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia.
Many Koreans view these as atrocities and raise money for charities including many celebrities [24] After the democratization of Korea, the number of feminist movements greatly increased.
[9][35] Four years later, her scandal and impeachment nullified any progress made by her election and left many convinced that women are not fit to lead their country.
[2][4] This type of inequality can be seen in statistics concerning South Korea's wage gap, employment rates, occupational segregation, and parental leave.
"[42] Korea also ranked the lowest for the eighth year in a row on the Glass Ceiling Index published by The Economist in 2020.
[43] The Glass Ceiling Index was determined by the country's performance on ten indicators such as wage gap, labor force participation, representation in senior jobs, paid maternity leave, etc.
[45] In their 2013 paper, Patterson and Walcutt found that gender inequality in the workplace stems from "a lack of legal enforcement, a weak punishment system, a tacit acceptance of the status quo by women, organizational cultural issues stemming from the traditional Korean mind-set that allow gender discrimination and a general lack of knowledge about EO [equal opportunity] regulations by many companies.
[52] In addition to differences in full- and part-time employment rates, gender inequality in Korea also manifests itself through industrial segregation.
Furthermore, in the 2018 OECD Economic Survey for Korea, it was observed that within the entrepreneurial sphere, "female entrepreneurs are concentrated in basic livelihood sectors, such as health and social welfare, accommodations and restaurants, other personal services and educational services, reflecting in part their more limited access to financing and their educational background.
[58][59][8][27] Since males are expected to be the major breadwinners in families, there is a strong cultural tendency to define females' roles as that of a wife, mother, and housekeeper.
[58] The report shows that traditional Korean family and workplace cultures must change in order to prevent serious economic and societal problems due to extremely low fertility rates.
[64] Conventional ideals of femininity are constructed through a gender imbalance between men and women, which exhibits itself in everyday life.
Aegyo is the performance of child-like actions characterised by facial expressions, gestures, and voice tone in order to appear "cute".
[65] The need for women to appear cute and delicate in order to be regarded as pleasant is an illustration of how gender inequality manifests itself in daily life.
These daily inequalities and standards of femininity placed on women in South Korea are being challenged by the "escape the corset" movement.
To further fight these daily inequalities, a lot of women are also against the idea of marriage as in South Korea they would often be expected to abandon their careers to raise a child.
[66] The conversation of gender inequality is becoming increasingly prevalent in South Korean media partly due to the double standards male and female celebrities have to face regarding their body image.
In the South Korean media, female K-pop artists and actors often face harsh criticism for speaking about gender inequality.
For example, Irene of the girl group Red Velvet commented on the book Kim Ji-young, born 1982, a feminist novel talking about the daily gender inequalities experienced by women in South Korea.
[68] Gong Hyo-jin, a K-drama actress that appeared in When the Camellia Blooms, is also vocal about gender inequality in Korea.
[70] Disparities between male and female gender roles are prevalent in the K-pop industry and have been highlighted following the hallyu wave of the late 2000s.
A 2016 national survey revealed that 72% of girls under 18 in South Korea compared to 36% of boys felt that they needed to lose weight.
[74] A similar study conducted by Dr Yuli Kim found that 1 in 3 South Korean women are predicted to have an eating disorder.
