INTERSECTIONAL FEMINISM SERIES

Is “Feminism to Blame” For Korean Women Taking Down The Patriarchy?

What’s been going on recently in Korea is a real eye opener for women oppressed by sexism around the world. It appears that Korean women are sick of the patriarchy, and are handling it in a way only a woman can— with their wombs. We have seen this kind of movement happening all over the world: women opting out of marriage and motherhood for their own personal reasons. Some say it’s due to women's needs not being met, according to Psychology Today, which relates it to an increase of single men in its 2022 report What’s Behind The Rise of The Lonely Single Man (2022).

What’s extraordinary about the situation in Korea, where women have decided to go on a “birth-strike,” is the government is saying feminism is to blame and the real reason behind Korean women refusing to have children, even after the government’s request that they do — the audacity of it! This statement needs to be looked at more closely. Is feminism to blame for Korean women literally attempting to take down the patriarchy with their wombs?

Or is it more likely due to the low standard of women’s lives, rights, happiness, and the conditions under which they must live? In other words, is “feminism” just an inspiration to Korean women to take control and not give birth as a method to improve their lives? The real reasons their lives need improving must be looked at more deeply.

What’s extraordinary about the situation in Korea, where women have decided to go on a “birth-strike,” is the government is saying feminism is to blame.

What’s The Story?

Chung Hyun-Back (female), who served as minister of gender equality and family for the Korean government, was tasked to help increase the country’s birth rate when the previous government exited. This attempt seemed to have failed over a number of years, as the birth rate for the country ended up at 0.81 percent, then went to 0.75, the lowest it has ever been, and half the number it was twenty years ago, as reported in a Korean study done in 2021. (Note that you will need to press ‘translate’ on this link.)

The study done in the country noted that:

According to the ‘2021 Birth Statistics’ released by Statistics Korea on the 24th, the total fertility rate has reached its lowest point every year since 2016 (1.17 people), falling to 0.81 people last year. This year, the total fertility rate was lower at 0.75 through the second quarter. Among OECD member countries, Korea is the only country with a total fertility rate of 1 or less.

They also pointed out that:

The total fertility rate, which is the average number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime, showed a downward trend and then recovered in the 2000s when the low birth rate began in earnest. But recently, instead of showing signs of a rebound, it has only continued to decline. The number of births was also the lowest ever at 260,600, a decrease of 11,800 from the previous year. The number of babies born was halved compared to 559,934 in 2001, 20 years ago.

Why is This Happening?

It appears that sexism could be a big issue for women in this part of the world. One lady, a graduate, confirmed that she has been looking for a job for a while, and sexism saturates the job market. Casey Lee of South Korea said she had been asked a number of sexist questions during job interviews such as “Do you have a boyfriend?” and “When do you plan to marry?” You can probably imagine where this all was coming from; it was part of the decision making over whether to hire her.

Her comments appeared in an article by RTL Today about equality issues which confirmed that:

Only 2.7 percent of the 15,000 top executives at the country’s 500 biggest firms are female, a government survey showed last year.

At 36.7 percent, South Korea has the widest gender pay gap among the OECD club of advanced economies.

If it’s hard for women to find a job, and they face blatant sexism in hiring, this could have an impact on their role within the home. Women might need to stay home and play the traditional role instead of going to work. But for some, this clearly is not appealing, hence the birth rate reduction. However, the issue still remains that women who wish to enter the job market, regardless of whether they have children or not and/or want them or not, are still being marginalised by sexism. And even if they do land a job, the gender pay gap found between women and men was almost 40 percent — just wow!

Youth Dating, Marriage, and Coming-of-Age Awareness Survey Debate

Korea did a survey of it’s younger people to gain their thoughts around the idea of marriage and children. The results were published on Timeisa.com (press translate). They found that:

65.5% of all respondents are not in a relationship, and 46.7% of them have no intention of dating.

Among the 63.6% who are currently not in a relationship, 70.4% of respondents are not in a relationship voluntarily, which is 61.4% of men and 82.5% of women.

Regarding the reasons for reluctance to give birth, 57% named the financial burden such as childcare and education expenses, 39.9% did not want to sacrifice their lives for the child, and 36.8% said society was not an environment conducive to raising children.

The Response is To Blame Feminism:

Yoon Suk Yeol, the current president of South Korea since 2022 (at the time of writing this), has made some bold claims about women deciding to have a ‘birth-strike’. His stance is that,

Some say that feminism is abused politically and emotionally prevents healthy relationships between men and women.

He went on to assert that,

“There are many causes for the low birth rate problem, feminism has been so politically abused.” And “It plays a big role in emotionally blocking things like healthy interactions between men and women.”

Well, if “blocking” healthy interactions is being discouraged, how about telling companies not to ask “do you have a boyfriend?” or “when will you get married?” during an interview? These kind of questions to a female candidate for a role singles her out based on her gender. This blatant sexism is what is leading to “unhealthy interactions.” The feminist response to it (birth-strike) is the solution, not the problem, when no one in the room wants to address the real problems the Korean women face.

Is Feminism To Blame For A Birth Drop?

To answer the question of whether feminism is to blame for the situation with the Korean women, if you look at the data it would lead you to believe that the drop in birth rate is a natural response to the conditions of women in that part of the world. Feminism is not to blame. If we consider the data around equality in the work place, the gender gap in pay between men and women, the percent of women in top positions, and how many women want to be in a relationship from the younger population survey, these statistics don’t point to feminism, or even show that women have “feminist views.” It points to women being pretty upset about key areas of their lives, that’s all.

In addition to this, if we look globally, we hear news of women outside of Korea wanting to remain single, wanting more from relationships, etc., from both the Psychology Today reports mentioned above, plus the United Nations Population Fund which found that on a global level:

Worldwide, fertility has fallen from an average of 5 births per woman in 1950 to 2.3 births per woman in 2021, an indication of the increasing control that individuals — particularly women — are able to exercise over their reproductive lives. Overall fertility is projected to fall to 2.1 births per woman by 2050.

Women are facing similar struggles and unhappy all over the globe, it appears. Taking back the control by opting out of motherhood is just a response.

The United Nations Population Fund also recorded that:

In a YouGov survey of almost 8,000 people across eight countries (Brazil, Egypt, France, Hungary, India, Japan, Nigeria and the United States), more men than women held the view that their national population was too small.

Old School “Textbook” Sexism in The Work Place

The above findings by the United Nations Population Fund could be because it’s women who are generally tasked with childcare, sacrifice careers, and face sexism when they try to return to work after children. I’ve experienced it. I was thirty when I had my son, then I applied for a role that I was doing before I went on maternity leave (without extra pay). Yet when I returned, I was not shortlisted for an interview for the role.

When I asked my male, white, boss why I was not shortlisted for an interview at all, the cheeky f***ker told me, “Well, you’ve been on maternity leave.” Some might argue that, “this is a valid reason, you were away from the work place.” Nope, not at all. Because he is applying a reason as to why I could not be considered for the role that would only apply to a woman. Meaning I was being singled out based on my gender and nothing else, which he forgot is unlawful. Also, I was doing the job with no pay, before the job was even made “official,” and my male, white, boss gave the tasks to me to do and had no complaints about my work. The role was officially created based on who occupied the job before I went on maternity leave — me. Guess who got interviewed and landed the job? Yes, a man.

When my boss gave me his response I smiled sweetly, turned on my stilettos, then went back to my desk to type up my complaint of sex and gender discrimination against the company — which I won! Clearly, the women in Korea have my heart and no doubt yours too.

Governments, employers, and men need to learn to ‘read the room’, then think more deeply about the experiences of any demographic of women refusing to give birth.

Statistics, data, and social studies on how happy women vs men are in relationships, on the level of pay women are getting vs men for doing the same roles, and the comments from women around the world such as Casey Lee above, don’t support the claim that Feminism or Womanism are to blame for any “birth-strikes” that happen within any demographic of women. Let’s be real about it. Birth-strikes are a response to the “isms” women face, and a good response, too. Governments, employers, and men need to learn to “read the room,” then think more deeply about the experiences of any demographic of women refusing to give birth.

What do you think?

Is feminism at fault for the low birth rate?

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Further reading

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