Korean school textbooks are found to have much gender-discriminatory content, misleading students into believing that girls are more to blame for sexual violence and teenage pregnancy, according to a report released Monday by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family.
The report is based on 80 textbooks for first to fourth graders of primary schools and 30 books for middle school first graders.
Regarding juvenile sex, some middle school textbooks carry material about sexual violence but they focus on the damage of sexual violence, not the prevention of it.
“Some illustrations even imply that victims are responsible for sexual violence: they say girls should not walk around alone at night or on isolated roads and should not make decisions that could lead to sexual assault,” a ministry official said.
Textbooks also say the sexual urges of teenage boys are natural, while a girl’s sexual urge is related to pregnancy. “Pregnancy, abortion or giving birth is described as the result of teenage girls’ bad behavior and consequent result. Men, either in their teens or not, also responsible for pregnancy, are not mentioned at all. The books concludes that teenage moms must give up their schooling,” she said.
Male figures also appear more frequently than females, with 90 percent of historic figures in Korean language and ethics textbooks being men.
Books also display stereotyped gender roles — women are wholly responsible for household chores, childcare and education, while men are supervisors and representatives and good at dealing with machines.
Men solve problems actively and independently, and women usually get out of problems with help from another.
“Such male-favoring presentations will implant male-centered and female-exclusive concepts in children’s minds. It thus makes it difficult to fairly evaluate women’s contributions and roles in history,” the official said.
교과서에 성차별 내용 가득
여성가족부 보고서에 따르면 한국의 교과서들이 성차별적인 내용을 많이 포함하고 있으며, 여성들이 성폭력과 10대 임신에 책임이 있는 것처럼 학생들을 잘못 이해시킬 수 있는 것으로 나타났다.
청소년의 성에 대해서 교과서들은 성폭력에 대해 다루지만 주로 성폭력의 예방이 아니라 피해에 초점을 맞추고 있다.
여성가족부 관계자는 “어떤 삽화들은 심지어 성폭력 피해자들이 성폭력에 책임이 있는 것처럼 다루고 있습니다. 삽화들에는 여학생들은 밤이나 으슥한 길에 혼자 다니지 말고 성폭력으로 이어질 수 있는 분위기를 만들면 안된다고 써있습니다” 라고 말했다.
교과서들은 또한 남학생들의 성적 충동은 자연스러운 것처럼 다루지만 여학생들의 성적 충동은 10대 임신과 이어지는 것처럼 다루고 있다. “임신, 낙태, 출산은 여학생들의 잘못된 행동과 그 결과로 기술되고 있습니다. 임신에 또 다른 책임자인 남성은 전혀 언급되지 않고 있습니다. 교과서들은 또 10대 미혼모는 학교를 그만둬야 하는 것처럼 단정하고 있습니다.”
![[INTERVIEW] Korean chef aims to change Hong Kong's dining scene](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/d6481286e4b64c5b872403eec446f509.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
![[INTERVIEW] 'No more part-time jobs': VANNER talks about life after winning 'Peak Time'](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/79128864ba1643498f9a49fc7a82f2f1.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
