Misogyny Persists in South Korea, Despite Progress on Women’s Rights

[singermelodie1]

Last month, two South Korean police officers assigned to protect high school students in Busan, the country’s second-largest city, were found to have had sex with several of them. But neither was punished. Instead, they both resigned and were set up to receive full retirement benefits. The former police chief who broke the scandal on Facebook commented, “This is what happens when you dispatch young, good-looking police officers to schools filled with teenage girls.â€

News of this story broke as South Korea was in an uproar after a young woman was stabbed to death in a bathroom near Seoul’s central Gangnam Station. Her murderer had been standing in an empty stairwell, evidently waiting for a victim. The girl had been spending time in a bar below with her boyfriend. The man who killed her later said he felt “ignored†by women, and that sometimes they walked in front of him on the street and deliberately slowed their pace in order to make him late for work.

Questions arose about the state of the man’s mental health, but his crime was also very quickly labeled an act of misogyny. Within days, one of the Gangnam Station exits was carpeted with thousands of post-it notes expressing grief over the woman’s murder and anger concerning violence against South Korean women. The case became symbolic of the widespread misogyny in South Korea. Unintentionally driving the point home was a far-right group known as Ilbe, which sent a faux-funeral wreath to be placed at the station that included the photographs of sailors who died in the sinking of a South Korean warship in 2010. A note with the flowers read, “Let’s remember that soldiers died in the sinking of the Cheonan warship because they were men.â€

The prevalence of misogyny in South Korea is complicated by the enormous strides the country has made in women’s rights. In education, the ratio of girls to boys for primary and secondary enrollment was 0.98 in 2013, compared to 0.96 in Germany. In employment, Korean women made up 41.6 percent of the total labor force in 2014, compared to the world average of 39.6 percent. And in government, South Koreans elected their first female president, Park Geun-hye, in 2013. Women also held 16 percent of the seats in the National Assembly, South Korea’s parliament, in 2015, compared to 10 percent in Japan or 13 percent in the Bahamas—two countries with roughly comparable per capita GDPs.

These developments, however, mask the lack of social and cultural progress on women’s rights and gender equality that recent events have exposed. While progress at the top is key, whether in politics or education, everyday social attitudes and perceptions cannot be legislated and remain woefully retrograde. Earlier this month, for instance, the Ministry of Health and Welfare began a new subsidy program for daycare centers, yet few South Korean men take parental leave, and among the nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, South Korean men do the least amount of housework.

Or consider the fact that while more South Korean women are entering the workforce, according to a survey by the Presidential Committee on Young Generation, 26 percent of respondents said inappropriate questions are a serious problem during job interviews. In fact, this was the No. 1 complaint, understandable in light of interview questions such as, “What kind of man do you like?â€

 

The prevalence of misogyny in South Korea is complicated by the enormous strides the country has made in women’s rights.

 

Then there’s the incredible double standard applied to women in South Korean popular culture, including pop music, or K-pop, and other media. Female entertainers are sexualized and objectified in music videos and on TV shows, yet if they are found to have boyfriends or partners outside of marriage, this can sometimes lead to scandals large enough to end their careers. The same doesn’t hold true of men. Female entertainers are also publicly humiliated for not behaving subserviently, while many female K-pop stars are infantilized in videos and on album covers. When singer-songwriter IU made an album critiquing this double standard, she was accused of encouraging pedophilia. Given the attitudes of many male employers, perhaps it isn’t surprising that at least half of all South Korean women in their 20s have had some form of cosmetic surgery.

But the problem of misogyny isn’t contained within these social patterns. Harmful attitudes toward women often have a wider political and legal impact, too. Sexist police chiefs, TV producers and K-pop company CEOs all have sway. For example, in the case involving the two Busan police officers, local precinct police chiefs and commissioners of the Busan city police agency, as well as the Korean National Police Agency in Seoul, all denied having any prior knowledge of the case. They were later found to have known and done nothing. This was revealed as part of a criminal investigation that probably would never have formed if not for the attention and public outrage the story received.

The fact that it did garner outrage shows that many South Koreans find such behavior intolerable. But those attitudes don’t often translate to individual views and actions. Indeed, there are instances in which people have been shown to publicly exhibit positive behavior, yet behave very differently when they think no one’s looking. In June, eight students at Seoul’s Korea University were found to have been texting sexist messages. In one message, a student suggested that they rape a “pretty freshman.†Some of the students involved worked at the university’s center for gender equality.

Women now outnumber men in South Korea, yet in the World Economic Forum’s 2015 Global Gender Gap Report, it ranked 115th out of 145 countries. More than ever, South Korea needs to address misogyny if it hopes to make deeper strides toward gender equality. Although top-down progress is invaluable, unless it is matched with social changes in attitudes and perception, it won’t be enough.

David Volodzko is the national editor for The Korea JoongAng Daily, the sister paper of The International New York Times in South Korea.

 

 

 

 

source: http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/19487/misogyny-persists-in-south-korea-despite-progress-on-women-s-rights

[Deâ„“phina]

he case involving the two Busan police officers, local precinct police chiefs and commissioners of the Busan city police agency, as well as the Korean National Police Agency in Seoul, all denied having any prior knowledge of the case. They were later found to have known and done nothing.

 

Sue their asses. 

[blackocean]

“This is what happens when you dispatch young, good-looking police officers to schools filled with teenage girls.â€

 

 

 

 

[hailanal]

115th???? shit damn

 

read it all... eww, those cases are disgusting. relevant KPOP discussion as well

[juicy milky thighs]

“This is what happens when you dispatch young, good-looking police officers to schools filled with teenage girls.â€

 

NO LIES DETECTED

[Hikaruaxi]

 â€œThis is what happens when you dispatch young, good-looking police officers to schools filled with teenage girls.â€

 

[blackocean]

115th???? shit damn

 

read it all... eww, those cases are disgusting. relevant KPOP discussion as well

more discussions like this tbh 

[Ihavepopcorn]

Korea has a lot of problems, and the reason why it's almost impossible to eliminate them is because most of them are ingrained in their culture. Women are forced to be cute and act like a child or else they're not viewed as charming, they're suppose to blush and giggle at crude jokes or else they're not feminine, always look pretty and innocent regardless of the situation, exposing your body makes you a slut, pre-marital sex means you're ruined, divorce means you weren't good enough. Women are subordinate to the men in Korea and if you choose to be otherwise, your parents, strangers, everybody criticises you because you're a bad daughter, bad wife, bad sister.

 

The worst part about this is it's not only men who criticise women for these things but women as well, actually the vast majority is usually women. A change can't happen if no one chooses to. It just like the senior and junior relationship. They complain about how ridiculous it is and how they want it to be done with but the minute a junior dares speaks to them informally they get angry. 

[Almondandlime]

"Then there’s the incredible double standard applied to women in South Korean popular culture, including pop music, or K-pop, and other media. Female entertainers are sexualized and objectified in music videos and on TV shows, yet if they are found to have boyfriends or partners outside of marriage, this can sometimes lead to scandals large enough to end their careers. The same doesn’t hold true of men."

 

This definitely isn't true from what I've seen in kpop... Male kpop idols are hit just as hard by dating scandals.

 

Also..

Female entertainers are also publicly humiliated for not behaving subserviently, while many female K-pop stars are infantilized in videos and on album covers. When singer-songwriter IU made an album critiquing this double standard, she was accused of encouraging pedophilia.

 

That's definitely not why IU was accused of encouraging pedophilia...

[Usermon]

“This is what happens when you dispatch young, good-looking police officers to schools filled with teenage girls.â€

 

 

[CareBear08]

Misogyny doesn't just come from men. It also comes from women with the way many of them treat each other. There are things that's been said and done that makes me wonder how they could treat another woman that way.

[ZombehPanda]

I'm not saying SK is right in how they are acting towards women. I don't know enough to act like I can judge them. I just felt like expressing my own opinion about the topic in general.

 

It's really hard for me when people talk about these topics because I am a girl who wants to be seen as cute instead of sexy. I would rather be a stay at home wife and raise my children and take care of my husband well. I hope one day I'll find a husband who wants a wife who will make his meals, clean the house and be a good mother to our children but I'm scared the world will tell my ideal husband that he is sexist for wanting that lifestyle. People keep scolding me for being traditional/old fashioned/naive but that's what I want. Who has the right to tell me its anymore wrong/right than what they want?

[singermelodie1]

I'm not saying SK is right in how they are acting towards women. I don't know enough to act like I can judge them. I just felt like expressing my own opinion about the topic in general.

 

It's really hard for me when people talk about these topics because I am a girl who wants to be seen as cute instead of sexy. I would rather be a stay at home wife and raise my children and take care of my husband well. I hope one day I'll find a husband who wants a wife who will make his meals, clean the house and be a good mother to our children but I'm scared the world will tell my ideal husband that he is sexist for wanting that lifestyle. People keep scolding me for being traditional/old fashioned/naive but that's what I want. Who has the right to tell me its anymore wrong/right than what they want?

That's actually OK if you want to be like that but every woman should not be forced to be like that.

[Zenist]

That's actually OK if you want to be like that but every woman should not be forced to be like that.

 

Only in societies wealthy enough that men can afford to be stay at home dads and women can choose to be more profession focused.

 

Otherwise, it is almost impossible for your average female to choose another profession over family due to pressure in maintaining the size of the population to keep the flow of the country. 

[Substation]

Of course, there are legitimate gender issues, but it seems this guy is cherry-picking things to support his premade points. That reeks of a patronizing expat tone.

 

He mentioned Ilbe but he omits the fact that the backlash happened due to radical feminist groups such as Megalia and WOMAD occupying the scene and abusing the murder case. They caused a huge shitstorm but he entirely left that part out. If he wasn't even aware of that in the first place, he should stop commenting on Korean internet subcultures.

 

He says South Korean men do the least amount of housework among the OECD but he doesn’t mention that Korean men’s working hours are among the longest. He basically doesn't mention anything about any burdens disproportionately imposed on men in Korea, which makes men remain cynical about some demands from women.

 

He talks about double standards applied to female celebrities but you can also find cases where female celebs get away while it could’ve been an issue with male celebs.

 

115th???? shit damn

 

He briefly brings up the Global Gender Gap Report ranking, but he glosses over how flawed its methodology is if you want to take it as any sort of balanced index for gender equality.

 

http://www.koreabang.com/2014/stories/netizens-baffled-by-koreas-gender-gap-index.html

 

(Read the second article from Donga thoroughly.)

[hailanal]

Of course, there are legitimate gender issues, but it seems this guy is cherry-picking things to support his premade points. That reeks of a patronizing expat tone.

 

He mentioned Ilbe but he omits the fact that the backlash happened due to radical feminist groups such as Megalia and WOMAD occupying the scene and abusing the murder case. They caused a huge shitstorm but he entirely left that part out. If he wasn't even aware of that in the first place, he should stop commenting on Korean internet subcultures.

 

He says South Korean men do the least amount of housework among the OECD but he doesn’t mention that Korean men’s working hours are among the longest. He basically doesn't mention anything about any burdens disproportionately imposed on men in Korea, which makes men remain cynical about some demands from women.

 

He talks about double standards applied to female celebrities but you can also find cases where female celebs get away while it could’ve been an issue with male celebs.

 

 

He briefly brings up the Global Gender Gap Report ranking, but he glosses over how flawed its methodology is if you want to take it as any sort of balanced index for gender equality.

 

http://www.koreabang.com/2014/stories/netizens-baffled-by-koreas-gender-gap-index.html

 

(Read the second article from Donga thoroughly.)

 

yes, I only briefly skimmed the article when I left that part of the comment

 

this is also true for Japan. i'm not sure why anybody would want to work like that for the shit money they earn

[whitedove]

“What kind of man do you like?â€

 

What kind of a job interview question is this??

[Express 999]

Only in societies wealthy enough that men can afford to be stay at home dads and women can choose to be more profession focused.

 

Otherwise, it is almost impossible for your average female to choose another profession over family due to pressure in maintaining the size of the population to keep the flow of the country. 

 

I don't think anyone here is trying to argue for a reversal where men would become the sole caregivers so that women could pursue careers. In a society with gender equality, a woman would be able to have a career and a family. Many countries, like Denmark and Sweden, give parental leave to the father as well as the mother so that each person can transition into parenthood without jeopardizing his or her career. I'm not saying any country has achieved perfect equality, but examples such as these provide an alternative to the outdated notion that all women should aspire to be housewives.

 

It's also interesting to note that as women become more educated, they shy away from settling down, finding a husband, and starting a family because they do not want to be tied down by these traditional gender roles. If we where to give woman more choices, this would also go a long way in addressing the decreasing population in many developed countries.

[Zenist]

I don't think anyone here is trying to argue for a reversal where men would become the sole caregivers so that women could pursue careers. In a society with gender equality, a woman would be able to have a career and a family. Many countries, like Denmark and Sweden, give parental leave to the father as well as the mother so that each person can transition into parenthood without jeopardizing his or her career. I'm not saying any country has achieved perfect equality, but examples such as these provide an alternative to the outdated notion that all women should aspire to be housewives.

 

It's also interesting to note that as women become more educated, they shy away from settling down, finding a husband, and starting a family because they do not want to be tied down by these traditional gender roles. If we where to give woman more choices, this would also go a long way in addressing the decreasing population in many developed countries.

 

The thing is, both men and women are forced into these things due to biology and how rich/poor a society is. The poorer a society is, the less option for both.

 

Also male hardship > women hardship just btw looking at work place death, homeless rate, average life expectancy.