Danielle Valenzuela Valenzuela

Prof Allie Turner

Jobs for Women in South Korea

In the graphic novel Ms. Marvel, by G. Willow Wilson, there were scenes of gender

inequality that had occurred within Kamalas family. One example is where Kamala was treated

differently from her brother, meaning she was treated more strictly compared to her

brother.Some examples of Kamala being treated differently is the parents not letting her go out

have fun, the parents getting mad at her for getting a B on her grade while the brother s just

being a freeloader in the parents house . This novels problem of gender inequality also can

correlate to the problems that the real world has. One way would is having gender inequality for

women in South Korea. Like Kamala, women is south Korean are also treated unequally

compared to men. Some ways women in South Korea are being treated differently from men are

by unequal access to jobs, an unfair amount of job discrimination and having social construction

and culture that gives unfair advantages for women. Back in the day women were also treated

unfairly even to this day , even though there has been some improvements on women's gender

equality there are still systems that make up gender inequality, and this makes women's lives

more harder to live with the country's inequality of genders social construction.

In the graphic novel, Ms.Marvel, the main character Kamala ,was always treated

differently by her parents compared to her brother. Some ways they were treated differently is

they prevent Kamala from going out to places that she wants to have fun in, and whenever she

would go out she would need to always be right next to her brother. Another time is when

Kamlas parents would get mad if she gets a B in her frade, while the brother would , just be
laying around the house. The parents give Kamala more restrictions compared to her brother.

Kamalas position is similar to the women in South KOrea as they are also given multiple

restriction compared to men.

Backtrack to 150 years, Korea had accepted a religion which is called Confucianism

this religion gave the idea that men are greater than women. This concept also why gender

inequality is still stuck in the Korean society. Since the norm of gender inequality for women has

been in Korea for so long, it became deeply rooted in their society that it may take a while to be

able to make any progress with gender equality. And this religion has affected many aspects of

the South Korean culture, including the persons role in society.

Women in South Korea is known to be one of the worst country that has inequality gender

with an unfair amount of women working compared to men. In fact, as it said in The Huffington

Post , South Korea is ranked 125 out of 142 of the countries of most equal pay for similar work.

This is seen, that South Korea still isn't able to accept or change their ways of having more

gender equality as they are also one of the highest ranked for gender inequality of work. Since

women have limited access to jobs , this makes the jobs for both genders wider. As Hyojeong

Kim said, the gender wage gap was 37.4 per cent. This creates a more unfair of money

distribution to the men and women and thus, giving women with the less wealth at a

disadvantage. That is also why South Korea is rank 125, because how would there be a most

equal pay for similar work if women are only limited to jobs that they are allowed to work in.

While men are able to work in specialized jobs where women weren't allowed to go in.

The social construction of South Korea, was a concept that was believed that women

were only meant to stay at home. And up to this day it is still accepted and thought of as

appropriate for women to only stay at home while the men work. Since this was expected to be
the social role of women, more than 1 in 5 of women would leave their jobs to pursue being a

housewife and take care of the kids. While less than 1% men only use their paternity leave as

companies pressures the males that by having paternity leave, it can prevent them from being

more successful in their job. And that is why in general women has less higher positions given

in their jobs because of usually having to quit their once they are married. While men in the other

hand, would be the ones with higher position because they were prevented from not

working.They were also given more support to keep pursuing their career and were given more

benefits compared to women. This gives women a lesser chance to go further with their careers

as they are given expectancy that women are only supposed to stay at home and take care of

children.

Another way that women in South Korea have different treatment compared to men, is

the lack of job diversity for women. As it says in the article by Darcie Draudt Korean women

comprise 19.4 percent of lawyers, 23.9 percent of doctors, and 23 percent of university

professors. There is a low amount of women that is working in these specialized areas, since it

is known that would take awhile to work and study for all these jobs ,by the time they are

finished they could have been married and leave their careers. There was also a report from the

Wall street journal that there were 1,787 companies in South Korea and only 13 women who

were CEOs. As there is a big difference of both genders in this position. The reason could be

because women are still not looked upon as equal to male. This shows how women are not given

a fair advantage of jobs available compared to men.

In conclusion, It is seen that there is an issue of women being treated differently to men

and that there are certain expectation of both genders that could have been found unfair and

which could be a cause of concern. Even from back then to today, there is still an issue of having
a huge contrast of job for women compared to men. Some ways women in South Korea are being

treated differently from men are by unequal access to jobs, an unfair amount of job

discrimination and having social construction that gives unfair advantages for women.
Danielle Valenzuela Valenzuela

English 115, 11:00

Professor Allie Turner

Works Cited Page

Draudt, Darcie. The Struggles of South Korea's Working Women. The Diplomat, The Diplomat, 26 Aug.
2016, thediplomat.com/2016/08/the-struggles-of-south-koreas-working-women/.

Hyams, James. Women Are Not Equal in Korea. The Korea Observer, The Korea Observer, 29 Jan. 2015,
www.koreaobserver.com/women-are-not-equal-in-korea-25893/.

Kim, Hyojeong. A Long Way To Go For Gender Equality In South Korea. HuffPost Canada, HuffPost, 20
Nov. 2016, www.huffingtonpost.ca/girls-twenty/gender-equality-south-korea_b_8523302.html.

Koo, Se-Woong. Opinion | South Korea's Misogyny. The New York Times, The New York Times, 13 June
2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/06/13/opinion/south-koreas-misogyny.htm