Before writing about what gender discrimination is like in Korea, it is necessary to
understand it in more details. Sexism is the practice of discriminatory treatment of one sex
against another. What is important here is that sexism can be either explicit or implicit. In
both cases, gender discrimination results in a situation in which women are classified as
socially underprivileged according to the class structure and are isolated without receiving
normal treatment. In addition, as women are classified as socially underprivileged, I was able
to hear intermittently in the news that sexual harassment goes beyond gender
discrimination. A simple example of this happened recently is actually through the #MeToo
movement in Korea, people in high social hierarchy (famous actors, politicians, poet,
playwrights, etc.) were pointed out as perpetrators. Then, what does the government after
the #MeToo movement think about gender discrimination? According to Wikipedia, a month
after the #MeToo movement started in earnest in Korea, President Moon Jae-in said, “I take
the #MeToo movement seriously” and “I pay tribute to the courage of the victims who
exposed their fact of victims and actively support the #MeToo movement.” expressed an
opinion. As can be seen here, the government is aware of gender discrimination from social
classes that have not yet come to the surface, and it also supports changes.
People face various kinds of discrimination in life. There are many different types of
discrimination, but there is a tendency to get angry at the just face that you have been
discriminated against. However, we need to pay attention to the beginning of the ‘why’ in
order to eliminate the discrimination. So, in this paragraph, I would like to argue when,
where, and why gender discrimination began in Korea. Before I begin, let me start by letting
you know that Korea has existed as one of the king central countries in the past. According
to Wikipedia, in the past, Korea has maintained a social structure with history of a royal
monarch, strict hierarchical division, and a patriarchal family structure, and at the center of
this phenomenon is Confucianism. Also, as a virtue of Confucianism taught "obviously
women demanded submission to men." Also, because it is deeply rooted in people's minds,
it is aligned with the idea of Confucianism, which emphasizes relationships with people
rather than individual freedom, and gender discrimination in which both men and women
unconsciously recognize subordination under the Confucian system is justified. Considering
the social atmosphere, hierarchy system, and religion at the time, I am accepted that it was
unavoidable reality. This is because that it was a society that valued relationships with
people rather than individual freedom. However, if the customs of the past have a bad
influence on the present, I think that they should be improved while respecting the past
customs.
Separating social roles by classifying men and women leads to dichotomous
thinking, that is, to the stereotype of Adichie's idea. As I said in the previous paragraph, in
Korea in the past, the roles of men and women were clearly separated after the formation of
a male-centered society derived from Confucianism. The distinction was taken for granted
that men only engage in socially profit-making activities, whereas women play a role in
supporting men who engage in profit-making activities and their families in the home.
Considering Korea in the past, where Confucianism was deeply rooted, the second sentence
of the two sentences I gave an example would not have been acceptable. This is because
they grew up under the influence of Confucianism and became secular in the next
generation and established as a stereotype. Asia society organization criticized the social
position and role of Korea's 'gender' in the past. “In traditional Korean society, women’s role
was confined to the home.”, and “Women, in general, could not participate in society as men
did, and their role was limited to household matter.” Many things have been improved in
modern society, but there are still many remnants left. The point I want to emphasize here is
that although there is a clear difference in biological factors, it is necessary to respect each
other's abilities as human beings, not males and females.
So far, we have dealt with past gender discrimination in Korea, and if so, what kinds
of changes have occurred in the current ‘gender inequality’, and the remaining distrust of
women’s social abilities. First, in Asia Society, “With the founding of the Republic of Korea in
1948, women obtained the constitutional right to equal opportunity to pursue education,
profession, and public life.” It also announced that “the scope gradually expanded as
economic development progressed, and the female economic participation rate steadily
increased from 34.4% in 1965 to 48.1% in 1999 after industrialization.” In addition, looking
at the growth of women's labor force participation rate, it is estimated that the growth rate
will be higher in 1999-2022, when industrialization accelerated further. On the other hand,
there is a second point to note. The Economist surveyed the gender wage gap and the
number of female seats on company boards in OECD countries in 2018. First, the average
wage gap between men and women in OECD countries is about 15%, but in Korea, the
difference between men and women is about 36%, showing the largest wage gap among
OECD countries. And secondly, the number of female seats on the board was also found the
OECD average was 23%, whereas significantly lower at 3-4% in Korea. Based on these results,
I would like to define gender discrimination in contemporary Korea as follows. Although
women's social rights have expanded along with the growth of women's economic activity,
considering the high wage gap between men and women and the remarkably low number of
seats in each company's board of directors, I want to define it as a society in which the male-
centered world according to the Confucian ideology of the past is still unresolved and
women's abilities are not fully recognized.
In order to treat this subject as my own work, we need to look at a more indirect
example of our lives. To achieve this goal, I will bring examples about gender discrimination
in society and gender inequality in the family among the remaining gender discrimination in
Korea. First of all, at NIKKEI Asia said, Seoul Metro, the central subway in Seoul in 2016,
lowered the interview scores of female applicants in train inspection and operator
recruitment. More specifically, six men were hired by adjusting the scores of six women to
less than 50. The second is an example of gender inequality according to roles in the family.
Cho Eun-kyung said in TED Talk. “In Korea, there are two big holidays, Chuseok and New
Year's Day, and traditional food is served on these days.” And “From when I was a child to
now, I complained that the role of cooking and cleaning was done by women, and most men
did not care about household chores, they were just watching TV.” Additionally, she gives
examples of women in TV commercials related to household items Samsung refrigerator,
Korea Downy detergent, and Febreeze, and says that the perception of women as still doing
household chores has not improved. As such, it can be confirmed that explicit and implicit
gender discrimination exists in Korea in areas that are really close to our lives, such as
employment issues and families.