"In some ways, South Korean women are fortunate. They are richer, live longer
and are far better educated than women in most other countries. Yet, they are
treated as cooks, cleaners and “baby-making machines”
. They are expected to
be both earners and dutiful mothers, and are subject to demeaning scrutiny if
they fall short in either domain.
The mismatch in expectations between Korean men and women has
exacerbated the country’s demographic predicament. The fertility rate is the
world’s lowest: 0.78 babies per woman. Fearing a population implosion, the
government is trying desperately to encourage births. But many women are on
“marriage strike”
, having given up on finding a man who doesn’t think “his
penis would fall off if he steps into the kitchen”
. In a survey of women in their
20s, nearly 60% said they would never wed.
This act of defiance, comes at the cost of, among other things, a struggling
economy and low labour force. Fertility rate well below the replacement level
of 2.1 births per female has triggered a national alarm, with some predicting an
aging society unable to grow or support its elderly. History has also taught us
that economic calamities affect women the most.
"