According to a 2022 survey conducted by Sisa Times, 68 percent South Korean young men and 54 percent young women are reluctant to have children, despite the fact the country is witnessing an alarming level in population decline. To fight this major challenge, at the end of March this year, the South Korean government revealed its strategy to boost fertility rates as the Asian country has the lowest fertility rate in the world with only 0.79 births per woman in 2022. This number is far below the 2.1 replacement needed to sustain a country’s population. As in previous years, the Korean government plans to invest up to US$200Bn into support programs that can be “perceived directly by South Koreans” according to President Yoon Suk Yeol. Even though the money is intended to support aspects such as better education and childcare subsidies, the policy overlooks the root cause of the problem, which is not related to fertility.
According to analysts, attacks on women grow as increasing numbers refuse to take on the traditional roles of mother and wife, citing the overbearing conditions imposed by the traditional patriarchal system of South Korea. Unwillingness of Korean couples in having children is mainly due to societal burdens that affect all young people similarly, such as expensive housing, exhausting working hours and expensive child-rearing. Yet, women have an added determining factor: the patriarchal system that maintains tight standards of what having a family implies.
The 4B feminist movement especially has made headlines many times with its motto: no dating (biyeonae), no marriage (bihon), no sex (bisekseu), and no child-rearing (bichulsan). And even though not all Korean women stand for all four, bihon or no marriage has become the philosophy of many in the South Korean society.
There is clearly a disturbing system in Korean society that revolves substantially around specific standards for men and women on how to behave, dress and look. For women, these pressures are accentuated not only in their external life–workplace and universities–where they must look impeccable but also in their personal life. And the burden lies with the women who decide to start a family – they have to do it all – take care of the children, do the household responsibility, provide emotional support and find the best schools. At the same time, given the suffocating and rather humiliating situation, they are also required to contribute economically. Meaning, they must make earning despite the fact of bearing all burdens and responsibilities at home.
South Korea has one of the widest gender gaps of OECD countries in terms of hours spent on household chores. Women spend 14.1 percent of their day in domestic work, while men spend only 4.4 percent. The same applies to childcare, where women dedicate 8,194 hours a year, compared to 818 hours of their male partners – almost ten times more than the males.
For these factors, South Korean females are in favor of bihon or no marriage policy – meaning, while they maintain relationships with their boyfriends of male partners and even live under the same roof, they do have sexual relationships by strictly ensuring they do not become pregnant or have any child. Although a segment of the South Korean female does want to have a family they do not want to comply with imposed social conditions.
In South Korea, for centuries the social system has been unkind to women, where such pressure mostly comes from the older generations, particularly husband’s side. An example could be the Chuseok festivities, where only women are required to cook a plentiful amount of food for their husband’s ancestors, while the latter’s job is “just to sit comfortably”. A large number of South Korean young men still hold those beliefs which is a result of their ancestors’ teachings.
The current South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol holds skeptical views on feminism considering the country’s demographic problem, as those who openly show minimum commitment to feminism and empowerment of women get publicly canceled. According to analysts, feminism is portrayed as a very bad thing in South Korean society, and now it turned much worse following President Yoon Suk-yeol apportioning blame for the country’s demographic problem on women.
Despite the fact that South Korea is a strong economy in Asia, its social approach towards women is notoriously cruel. Unless this tendency is abandoned – South Korean population shall continue to decline which ultimately shall turn into a major issue to the country.
