Forced out of schools, single moms struggle to get by
Single moms and their children pose at an event organized by the Korean Unwed Mothers Families’ Association (KUMFA). / Courtesy of KUMFA
By You Soo-sun
A high school dropout, Oh Sun, now 30, is a mother of two children and the sole provider for her family.
It was when she was pregnant with her second child she dropped out of school, again. Just a year earlier Oh had returned to school, seven years after she ― then 17 years old ― quit school and ran away from a home that was swamped in a pile of debt.
“I went back because I realized a high school diploma is critical in getting a decent job. And I wanted to be a proud mother to my child,” Oh told The Korea Times.
But less than a year later, she was pregnant with her second child and was pressured to drop out.
“I really wanted to stay. And no matter how unfair it felt, I had to leave given that in reality, a pregnant student is highly frowned upon,” Oh said.
According to Statistics Korea, there were 24,487 single moms in 2015. Of them, 16,140 were under 24 and 350 were in their teens.
While Oh’s story reflects the vicious cycle many single moms face in Korea, the government is only slowly beginning to take note.
On Wednesday, politicians, activists and government officials from the education and welfare ministries gathered at the National Assembly for a conference to discuss ways to provide single moms with better access to education.
While education was one of the main areas they lacked access to, it was clear their hardships did not end there.
According to Prof. Roh Kyung-ran of Sungshin Women’s University, eight out of 10 pregnant students drop out of school and around 70 percent of teenage single moms have less than a high school education. The problem is, Roh said, this also lowers their chances of them getting quality jobs, and in turn makes them more prone to sustained financial instability.
But this all begins with the way educators view and teach about single moms, explained Kim Do-kyung, president of the Korean Unwed Mothers Families’ Association (KUMFA).
In a survey conducted by the National Human Rights Commission in 2008, over half of 252 teacher respondents said they saw pregnancy as a legitimate cause for punishing a student. Twenty-eight percent of them said they would advise the students to quit school.
Only in 2009, the commission warned that schools should not discriminate against students for becoming pregnant or giving birth, saying all single moms should be provided with the right to education. The education ministry followed the recommendation by revising school codes which previously allowed schools to punish students for becoming pregnant.
Still, not much has changed.
Recent sexual education materials held that contraception is important because lack of it may lead one to become a single mom. And single moms, it argued, may “forever wrestle with guilt” and “have to give up pleasures of learning in school.”
“It also teaches students to take responsibility for unwanted pregnancies. Furthermore, the law forbids abortion,” Kim said. “Yet, there is no legal system to help those who follow this teaching.”
As a single mom, Kim has never regretted her decision to give birth to her child. And she believes a growing number of single moms stand with her.
“But raising a child without the necessary support is like walking alone in a pitch-dark tunnel,” Kim said.
Discussion revolving around legalized abortion has started getting traction in Korea. An increasing number of Koreans believe women should have the right to abortion. It may, after all, be realized pretty soon.
But just as important, Kim said, is establishing a system that protects the rights of all ― regardless of their marital status or age ― who decide to give birth.