Korea’s new jokbo
Korean genealogical research is at a crossroads, although many may not know it. Family history has been embodied in what is called “jokbo." We can say that a jokbo is a kind of photograph of a society at a point in time. Typically, the jokbo that Korea knows today shows a male dominated, patrilineal family structure — but Korea is no longer a male dominant, patrilineal society. Does that mean jokbo will change? Yes — it must. As women have gained more rights and prerogatives in society, we can say the old ways of male domination are changing. Korea may not be a truly equal society yet, but it’s getting closer. Women are doing much better in areas where education makes a difference — for example, the foreign ministry recruits new diplomats on the basis of a test. In recent years, 70 percent of new hires were women. We see similar levels of success for women in other areas of government employment, and in addition, women have played stronger roles for some time in the fields of education and medicine. Whether we can argue that Korea is truly balanced in terms of gender or not, i
