[51], Confucian family values support traditional sex roles, with men expected to do "male-type" work and women expected to do "women-type" work. The glass ceiling extends to corporate boards and leadership. [12], Confucianism is an ideology that emphasises the importance of a social hierarchy in order to create a balanced and harmonious society. [3], "Gender inequality" in South Korea is largely rooted in the country's Confucian ideals and has been perpetuated and deepened by historical practices and events, such as military sexual slavery and Park Geun-Hye's scandal. In the case of AI, the UN has found that AI programs such as Siri and Alexa reinforce gender bias. In South Korea, women regularly face questions about their marriage status and plans for having children when applying for a job, or suggestions that jobs in fields such as sales aren’t appropriate for women. Women only make up 17 percent of the Members of the National Assembly. Some, have moved towards more flexible working hours, while. While the 2017 UNDP Gender Inequality Index ranks South Korea 10th out of 160 countries, the World Economic Forum ranks South Korea 118th out of 144 countries in its 2017 Global Gender Gap Report. One silver lining to these troubling statistics is the fact that women in the South tend to have better access to affordable child care than those in the rest of the country, according to the report. The OECD average pay gap is 13.8 percent. Aegyo is the performance of child-like actions characterised by facial expressions, gestures, and voice tone in order to appear ‘cute’. This is not an insignificant amount, as it is roughly equal to what South Korea spends on healthcare. A South Korean AI field that is dominated by males could socially reinforce gender patterns and be a less valuable commercial product for sale abroad as their competitors work to address issues of bias in AI programing. [39] In their 2018 Economic Survey for Korea, the OECD recorded the female employment rate to be around 56.1%, which is below the average (59.3%) for all OECD countries. has already begun to decline. It is a fundamental tool for evidence-based decision making, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. Only one in 10 managerial positions in South Korea are held by women. It’s Women’s Month and every year there’s focus on persistent problems women encounter and the alarming gender-based violence statistics. In 2019, it was estimated that at least one woman was ‘killed or nearly killed by her male partner every 1.8 days’. In government, the circumstances are similar. Troy Stangarone is Senior Director and Fellow at the Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI). Money, Tokyo If you want to fix gender inequality in the workplace, you have to fight the problem at its roots. These daily inequalities and standards of femininity placed on women in South Korea are being challenged by the ‘escape the corset’ movement. [69] Gender-based crimes rely on inequalities of gender and further force women into a subordinate position. But over time the efforts need to spread beyond the leading chaebol to firms in South Korea more broadly. [8][9] However, contemporary South Korea has made great strides in attempting to reduce gender inequality through legislation and policymaking. Dams may seem to be a perfect solution to Pakistan’s water woes, but they carry steep costs – literally and figuratively. [44] The relatively high part-time employment rate for women can partly be attributed to traditional Confucian ideals of gender roles in Korea, in which women are expected to take on the responsibility of family duties and childcare. For example, women are statistically more likely to become a victim of homicide,[71] intimate partner violence and dating violence in South Korea. When women in the workforce have children they often face societal pressure to leave their jobs, or if they do return to work face a future with lower pay as many are often forced to take irregular work rather than return to full-time positions. Furthermore, in the 2018 OECD Economic Survey for Korea, it was observed that within the entrepreneurial sphere, "female entrepreneurs are concentrated in basic livelihood sectors, such as health and social welfare, accommodations and restaurants, other personal services and educational services, reflecting in part their more limited access to financing and their educational background. [38] The male employment rate is 75.9%, which is slightly higher than the OECD average (74.7%). [66], Although extreme diets are considered the norm for all K-pop idols, recent media attention has been drawn to the fixation of female idol weight loss, particularly after a Korean drama star commented that “if a woman weighs over 50kg, she must be nuts”. The resulting decline in South Korea’s working age population could push South Korea’s potential growth rate to as low as. recently when he said that wearing heels “is socially accepted as something that falls within the realm of being occupationally necessary and appropriate” in response to a petition to ban high heels from the formal business dress code in Japan. Famous female idols such as singer IU and members of girl group f(x) have openly discussed the drastic measures taken to lose weight, an expectation seen as imperative for all female idols to follow. South Korea’s working age population has already begun to decline. Japan’s Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Takumi Nemoto stirred controversy recently when he said that wearing heels “is socially accepted as something that falls within the realm of being occupationally necessary and appropriate” in response to a petition to ban high heels from the formal business dress code in Japan. However, they were the top 3 countries with gender wage gaps. The Human inequality coefficient for Korea (Republic of) is equal to 10.7 percent (see Table C). Sulli had stepped out of the carefully corporate-crafted mold of K-pop idolatry to expose South Korea’s societal Achilles’ heel - gender inequality. [55][56], Within primary and secondary education, greater female participation in STEM fields is being promoted. [18][19] During the Korean War, the United States enlisted more than one million South Korean women into military prostitution. Last year, 261 children were abandoned across the country, according to Statistics Korea. Women only make up 17 percent of the Members of the National Assembly. [18], Moreover, these women were victims to both violence and sexualization. ChosunPub(조선펍) > 이슈&", "Most victims of dating violence in Korea are women: police", "Pink elephant's 'Zootopia' protest aggravates Gangnam murder controversy", "Murder at Gangnam Station: A Year Later | ké radar", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gender_inequality_in_South_Korea&oldid=1010312946, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Legislators, senior officials and managers, Years with female head of state (last 50), Act on Equal Employment and Reconciliation of Work and Family (1989), Punishment of Sexual Violence and Protection of the Victim Act (1993), Prevention of Domestic Violence and Protection of the Victim Act (1997), This page was last edited on 4 March 2021, at 21:21. To further fight these daily inequalities, a lot of women are also against the idea of marriage as in South Korea they would often be expected to abandon their careers to raise a child.[59]. Many events will pay tribute to the sacrifice women made in ushering in democracy in our country. The glass ceiling is pretty low in Korea. Power, Crossroads One solution would be to better integrate women into the workforce. The two sides initiated a disengagement along the banks of Pangong Lake in Eastern Ladakh. Asia, Asia The Housing Market. Melinda Gates has always believed that all lives have equal value and that no one should be denied a better life because of their gender. 6 - research brief on gender and equality in south africa BACK TO TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION South Africa remains the most unequal country in the world, measured in terms of income and wealth.1 Inequality often overlaps with poverty, socio-economic disadvantage, and race. While the Moon administration has sought to address the gender gap in government, it has set modest goals: Women accounting for 10 percent senior government positions and 20 percent of public company executives by 2022. [39] Although 74.9% of South Korea women (between the ages of 25 and 34) have completed tertiary education - a percentage that is much higher than the OECD average (50.7%) - the employment rate of women with tertiary education is the lowest in the OECD. In their 2013 study, Branisa et al. What’s behind the Indian Army’s reorientation of its Mathura-based 1 Corps toward China? In the case of AI, the UN has found that. Asia, South Women and men have different needs, access and control over resources in society. [22][18] While gender equality in policymaking and governance has improved over the last few decades, gender equality in labor markets and the division of labor has remained stagnant. The book had sparked much controversy upon release as the Gangnam Station murder had occurred only a few months earlier. The commodification of idols’ bodies and practices surrounding idol-fan culture have allowed for the sexualisation of idols, disproportionately reflecting on women’s beauty standards. A lack of gender diversity among coders means that South Korea is less likely to develop cutting edge future technologies. Park Won-soon’s death elicited both sympathy and controversy amid rumors of a sexual harassment complaint against him. Asia, Central North Korea’s ruling party wants modern military drones for strike and recon missions. [70] Violence against women is a global problem, and one that continues to pervade South Korean contemporary society. Gender Inequality and Economic Growth . This places South Korea sixth from the bottom in the OECD. A new policy framework is the first attempt to systematically address the many issues that plague India’s internal migrant workers. [45] Part-time employment allows for reconciliation of professional and family life, especially for women, as explained in a 2002 OECD Employment Outlook analysis. Neil Howe, Richard Jackson, Keisuke Nakashima, Hyejin Kwon and Jeehoon Park. Based on UN estimates, South Korea’s working age population could decline by 7.5 million people between today and 2040. This is going to directly affect South Korea’s economy. (Our World in Data) Gender inequality in the workplace statistics is often discouraging. The impacts of the pandemic on India’s youth threaten to last for years to come, undoing decades of progress on multiple fronts. The “Luda” AI chatbot sparked a necessary debate about AI ethics as South Korea places new emphasis on the technology. According to the World Economic Forum, South Korea ranks 124 out of 149 countries in the world in terms of economic participation and opportunity for women. Some like SK have moved towards more flexible working hours, while Samsung actively recruits women has and has more female employees than Apple. [52] A 2007 report by Center for Strategic and International Studies notes these trends are "in many ways the worst of both worlds. Japan's lagging vaccine roll-out draws attention to the barriers in commercializing domestic vaccine production. Gender inequality in South Korea refers to the unequal opportunities and treatment men and women face in South Korea. Female graduate in computer science have declined since 2000. It has extended paid paternal leave, made it easier for both parents to take leave at the same time, and created incentives for companies to allow both parents to work reduced hours. Individuals who live in semi-basement homes also reflect income inequality in South Korea. National statistics that does not reflect these differences is insufficient and potentially misleading. 3989)", "Concluding comments of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women: Republic of Korea", "Gender Gap Index Rankings 2013 – South Korea – The Asian Philanthropy Advisory Network", "Since 2000, S. Korea number one in OECD for gender pay inequality", "Earnings and wages - Gender wage gap - OECD Data", "S. Korea reflects lag in gender equality: Column", "Iceland leads the way to women's equality in the workplace", "Gender Inequality Makes South Korea Poorer", "The Pursuit of Gender Equality: An Uphill Battle", "Incidence of FTPT employment - common definition", "A Long Way To Go For Gender Equality In South Korea", THE AGING OF KOREA. In terms of female ministers in government, South Korea has the third lowest percentage in the OECD.