By Bernard Rowan
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Too many South Korean women face a society of bad job opportunities, unequal work conditions, and unequal pay. According to recent articles in this newspaper, Korea ranks 115th for gender equality, with a "gender gap index" of .532. Women earn less than two-thirds of what men earn on average a month. Women also face a nearly 50 percent unemployment rate.
Adult women continue to do most of the household chores. A recent Korea Times article says they work 7.4 and 3.5 times more on household work and childcare than men. They continue to perform most of the childcare before and after school. They increasingly must work for the family's bottom line, either as wives with husbands or as single parents or as older workers.
The gender gap means women will have less children. According to the article, 84.8 percent have no plans to have a child. Korean leaders propose many plans for addressing the aging society, but not many make eliminating Korea's gender gap priority number one.
If we don't think this picture of a woman's life in Korea impacts the marital bond, the lives of children and family members, and the woman herself, we're making a big mistake. If a woman returns home to yet another one to two full-time jobs, this affects her quality of life and the quality of life with her husband or partner. If she complains at work or at home, she may suffer disrespect, retaliation or abuse, mental or physical.
There are heroic women and marriages not following this pattern, but outliers are not the basis for a good society, and heroism isn't universally possible.
President Moon hasn't engaged with this matter. Oh, yes, there's the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and various initiatives. I don't see either Moon or the National Assembly making gender equity even a minor priority. Equal pay for equal work, comparable pay for comparable work, and fighting employment discrimination against women don't happen with rhetoric. The recent "inclusive growth" strategy is short on gender inclusion.
Women, just like their male counterparts, need to work and to have public lives on equal terms. They need respect for their time as mothers and caregivers for children. They need support for their work, just as they've provided men over the millennia. Women must stand up for themselves, including by running for elective office. There are few women in Korea's elective councils and offices, nationally and otherwise.
This gender gap and associated social failure in South Korea limits the capacity of women to influence social norms and policies, including the pursuit of peace and eventual reunification with the wayward North. I'd go so far, and have elsewhere, to say until South Korea addresses fundamentally its gender issues, there won't be reunification.
It's basic. It's not just or so much about providing "social safety nets." Basic services matter. That's no cure. Inclusive growth should prioritize equal pay for equal work. It should assure women with education the same employment opportunities, including advancement. It should define "rooting out corruption" as systematically ending discrimination and unacceptable working conditions for women. If women enjoy equality fully, the indices of wealth and income distribution would improve.
Mohan and Madgavkar's 2016 article "Working Women Windfall" is evidence of what Korea needs to do ― work persistently to end the gender gap. Korea's future survival wants nothing less. The results will qualitatively help Korea to reach its next strides forward.
Bernard Rowan (browan10@yahoo.co) is associate provost for contract administration and professor of political science at Chicago State University. He is a past fellow of the Korea Foundation and a former visiting professor of political science at Hanyang University.
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