The South Korean Crisis for Women

The reality for women living in South Korea requires more attention. (Photograph via Unsplash)

South Korea, on the outside, is an idolized country with K-pop, music, K-dramas, and top-of-the-line beauty products. However, the reality for women is far worse than what is shown through the media. Some topics we will be diving deeper into are the 4B movement, wage gaps across the nation, toxic beauty expectations, and more.

Let's start with the 4B movement. What is it? It is a radical feminist movement that advocates for women to refuse the following: dating, marriage, sexual relations, and childbirth with a man. The movement was created around 2017 when a woman was murdered by Kim Seong-min, and he wasn't charged with murder but with a hate crime because the woman had ignored him. That was just the straw that broke the camel's back; other incidents like the misogynist social media platform IIbe Storehouse in 2014 further added to the issue. This platform was anonymous and posted many anti-feminist and right-wing narratives. In the end, the 4B movement was created because of injustice and misogyny shown in men through social media and court hearings, which protected a man who unjustifiably murdered a woman for ignoring him.

Now let's talk about the wage gap between men and women in South Korea. Women in South Korea have a difference of making 31.2 percent less than men on average. The primary cause of the wage gap is due to outdated gender expectations. Women –– by culture –– are expected to take care of the house and kids, while men are supposed to work and make money for the family. An interesting pattern seen when the age of a female employee increases,they get paid less and less.  This is because of the belief that women's careers are far slower, as they take breaks for marriage, childbirth, and caregiving, while men don't have these same interruptions. 

Another place where men and women diverge is in their political ideology or standing.  Most men in their 20s (74.1%) lean towards conservative candidates, while only 35.6% of women in their 20s support the same candidates, according to The Los Angeles Times. Not only that, but women have low representation in leadership roles: for example, they hold only a measly 3 out of 29 top government positions. In a 2019 survey done by NPR, 70% of South Korean men believed that anti-men discrimination is real. In their eyes this is the case because they have equal opportunities, but women get a head start as they don't have to enlist in the army.

Another factor that is pushing women down is the toxic beauty standards. It's so bad, in fact, that 1 in 3 women between 19 and 29 had plastic surgery. The beauty standards for women are often inexplicable: the standards hold that women “must have” pale glass skin, have doe eyes, plump lips, a small nose, a small face, all while maintaining a low weight to please males.

Now with all these factors combined, it can be clearly seen that South Korean society is continuously oppressing women, and this has led to the South Korean gender wars. Now, these social disparities have led to a massive nationwide effect for South Korea: its birthrate. South Korea now has the lowest fertility rate in the world, with 0.72 births per woman as of 2023. Gender wars in South Korea are the antagonism of women and men online or in real life. Men feel like victims, because they believe women have the same opportunities as them, but they have to enlist in the military at 18. Women are being oppressed with wage gaps and toxic beauty standards. Not only that, but the system that is supposed to be helping them is just benefiting men. So they fought back, creating the 4B movement and that is the reality.