When people think of systemic injustices, they often think of injustice happening in their own country, but it’s hard to think of other developing countries having similar problems. Through my research this week I found systemic injustice in Seoul, South Korea. In January of this year, the Seoul city government shared several sexist remarks. Some of these comments included advice to pregnant women like, “prepare meals for your husband”, “don’t forget to look after your looks”, and “maybe hanging smaller clothes in visible areas will work as a motivation to lose weight”. (Moon, 2021) These comments recently brought the women’s movement in Korea back into the public spotlight. The online manual was quickly taken down after the backlash it received, but the damage had already been done. This patriarchal ideology isn’t new to those living in South Korea as many know that compared to men, “The value and position of women are much lower in the society” (Moon, 2021). Starting in the late 1980s, women’s opinions on marriage and motherhood in South Korea had slowly moved away from the more traditional roles of the past century. The country has been making progress in women’s rights, but society still has a long path to gender equality. One college student in South Korea put her situation this way, “I had no choice but to get married as a woman…… not doing so would be a sign of failure.” (Resos, 2016)
The systemic nature of this injustice stems from the fact that it came from the government itself. By putting out this message, the government is essentially admitting its sexist standpoint against woman’s autonomy. The government of the country pushes South Koreans toward traditional roles through social norms and promoted rhetoric. The elected government in South Korea is a representation of their society, and the actions and comments of that government reflect the society that elected said government. When reading about this story I couldn’t help but reflect on the One and the Other dialect. For decades, the men of South Korea have had power and influence over the women, and in this sense, they defined themselves as the One. The men needed the women to stay in their position (as the Other) to maintain this power, but over time this power disparity has been weakened. The government putting out these ideas proves that this power struggle between genders is potentially still alive today. South Korea remains one of the unequal industrialized countries in terms of gender as shown by the picture below. Especially in America, it’s easy to get passive and believe that all other industrialized countries are on our level in terms of human rights and value, but this isn’t the case. What makes this example so important is that it proves that even an intelligent and advanced country can still perpetuate systemic injustices.
References:
Moon, G. (2021, January 20). South Korean women hit back as old gender roles return. Retrieved February 21, 2021, from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/south-korean-women-hit-back-old-gender-roles-return-n1254704
Resos, A. (2016, October 06). The empowerment of women in South Korea. Retrieved February 21, 2021, from https://jia.sipa.columbia.edu/online-articles/empowerment-women-south-korea