Women in Korea (2)

By Mathias Specht

While an attractive appearance is probably important for women across the globe, I sometimes feel that Koreans go a bit too far.

Men are so preoccupied with good looks that beauty often becomes a much more deciding factor in who they date or marry than maybe personality or character. The media further fuels this obsession and whether watching a movie, TV show or seeing Korean singers on stage, one is often left with the impression that there are only immaculately beautiful women in Korea.

It is a relatively safe guess to assume that this has a tremendous effect on the self-image of especially younger women and the staggering rate of beauty surgeries, seems to support this. Likewise, even the winter streets of Seoul are filled with girls in tiny miniskirts, having their eyelashes extended, nails painted meticulously and constantly chasing the latest diet fad.

Not to say that European men don't care about looks, it's just that women there don't seem to feel as obliged to constantly please them or meet their expectations. But then again, considering how much of a woman's future and social standing in Korea depends on being attractive to men, most of these behaviors might seem rational in the arms race of this life-sized beauty pageant.

Also, the at best sketchy sexual education and rather lax attitude of Korean men toward contraception make birth control mainly a woman's responsibility and risk. The resulting number of unwanted pregnancies and the social stigma against single mothers leads to a sizeable abortion rate ― despite its illegality in Korea.

In fact, the social price that single mothers pay in form of ostracism, eviction and job discrimination is so high that according to the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs 96 percent of unwed pregnant women abort and 70 percent of those that give birth, place their child for adoption.

The workplace is often just another ground for discrimination against women. Of course, good looks count here just as much as in any other aspect of social life and equal opportunity laws are mostly toothless in Korea.

Admittedly, I have always enjoyed my flights with Korean airlines, where instead of the often grumpy middle-aged ladies on European carriers, only models seem to be working. But I never considered the flipside of this until one of my Korean friends told me that she had to take her stockings off during an interview and was denied the job because of a childhood scar on her calf.

However, it's not only the aviation industry that is still firmly in male hands. Most Korean companies are built around a close network of men, fortifying their relationships over long evenings, drinking in smoke-filled restaurants (or hostess bars) where women often only pour drinks and do the work on the next day, while the men nurse their hangovers. Important promotions are usually reserved for men, a measure that many Korean companies find completely justified since women will eventually become pregnant and then focus less on work.

Sadly, the lacking daycare system, a general absence of stay-at-home fathers and enormous social pressure to become housewives and mothers make this a self-fulfilling prophecy and most women have no choice but to drop out of more high-powered career tracks. Not surprisingly, according to the UN, merely 8% of administrative and managerial positions in Korea were held by women in 2008, compared to an average of 29 percent among the total of 100 reviewed countries.

Looking at the current state of the women's rights movement in Korea, this situation is unlikely to change much in the near future. The media hardly picks up on issues of gender inequality and if so, the space devoted to it is negligible compared to front page coverage of the diet or make-up secrets of the young ice-princess-turned-national-icon Kim Yu-na.

Even young Koreans are strikingly conservative when it comes to gender roles. Girls are very aware that speaking out for their own rights quickly makes them unpopular and boys are often openly hostile towards the idea of the further empowerment of women. Whenever the disregard of women's rights such as the lacking enforcement of rape and sexual harassment laws is publicly decried, online forums are filled with armies of enraged men and shouts of the word ``gae-femi." Combining Korea's most infamous curse word and the word feminist, the expression has become a symbol of the latent feelings of misogyny in many young Korean men.

They often feel unfairly treated by the country's conscription system that does not require women to serve in the military, the fact they are expected to pick up tabs on dates and, in an ironic twist, the idea that Korean women rely on their beauty to get their way.

And so I would not be overly surprised if Korea's steady fall on the global gender gap ranking from place 92 in 2006 to 97 (2007), then 108 (2008) and finally 115 out of a total of 134 in 2009 will continue. But even if Korea holds its position, it is nothing to take pride in, considering that the few countries that scored even lower were the likes of Saudi Arabia, Iran and Yemen.

This is the last installment of a two-part article. The writer is an MBA graduate from Yonsei University and founder of the Korean company Stelence International. He is currently writing a book about Korea and can be reached at mathias@stelence.com.