Korean Gender Reader
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For anyone interested, auditions for the 3rd annual Busan performance of the Vagina Monologues will be held on the weekend of January the 7th and 8th at the HQ bar in Kyungsung (the performance itself will be at the end of April). See Busan Haps for the details.
1) Single Korean Female, 30. Not Seeking Marriage.
Over at Seoulist, Stephanie Kim has written a great article on the pressures Korean women her age come under to get married. An excerpt:
Much like writer Kate Bolic, I also left a long-term relationship at the age of 28. It is never an easy explanation as to why a relationship doesn’t work out, but more disconcerting than my ambiguous story are the perplexed looks on the faces of my more conservative friends, especially those who believe that certain things must happen at certain times in one’s life….
…My Korean friends tell me that there is a very bad stereotype for a man who dates and then leaves a woman in the twilight of her twenties, letting her waste away into what my Chinese friends call a Leftover Woman. This was hardly my case. My ex-boyfriend was, and still is, a wonderful man. Smart. Caring. Supportive. The easiest answer I can give as to why the relationship fell apart is that things did not “feel right,” and that I was not ready for the next level of commitment, the marriage-minded track. It’s a scary feeling we all experience: everyday you feel one step closer to fulfilling a perfectly planned life, and it’s damn comfortable, but deep in your gut something tells you that that’s not what you truly want. I simply had the courage to act on that feeling. Though I don’t regret my decision, the stereotypes I face every day remind me that I took a non-traditional path.
Read the rest there. Note though, that unfortunately her message is a little confused by her referring to herself as a “Gold Miss” (골드미스), which she mistakenly thinks refers to an unmarried woman in her thirties or above. As regular Grand Narrative commenter Gomushin Girl points out however, actually it refers to women also highly successful in theirs career and/or financially well-off (the Joongang Daily says an income of 40 million won or above is required), which you can read about in depth in this discussion of the Japanese origins of the term at Ampontan: Japan from the inside out.
(Sources: left, right)
Not that I endorse the use of the term in any way: as even the Joongang Daily indirectly concedes in that above link, Gold Misses have little in common besides their salary and marital status, and one wonders at all the media attention on them a few years ago considering there were only 27,000 of them in 2006 (2 years before the article was published).
The explanation is that a Gold Miss is simply an invented role model for 30-something unmarried women to aspire to, all the better to sell them products that (supposedly) help them achieve that goal; or in other words, it’s normative rather than descriptive. This financial motivation becomes obvious when you realize that Japan-based Ampontan overlooks that the term is actually suspiciously similar to the “Missy” (미씨) term first used in 1994, about which So He-lee explains in her chapter “Female Sexuality in Popular Culture” in Under Construction: The Gendering of Modernity, Class, and Consumption in the Republic of Korea (ed. by Laurel Kendall, 2002; my emphasis):
As soon as it came out [in a Seoul department store advertisement], it was adopted widely to indicate a particular kind of housewife, a married woman who still looks like a single woman. Even the copywriter was surprised at the speed with which this term took on social meaning and evoked specific images of women and femininity. “Missy” rapidly permeated the Korean language once the advertising industry recognized the consumerist implications of this target age groups’ flamboyant desires.
The essential condition of being a Missy is a preoccupation with being looked at….Another fundamental condition of membership in the Missy club is her professional job.
You could argue that that this was simply luck by the copywriter rather than being part of a grand conspiracy between advertisers and the media, but then both are constantly inventing new terms in order to find one that’s likewise happily adopted by the public, as the never-ending creation of new “bodylines” makes clear. Tellingly, the terms also tend to be quite broad and vague, conveniently leaving others free to further define them as they see fit: say, when they want to blame all Korea’s modern social ills on working women for instance, in an appalling Korea Herald report on “Alpha Girls” that I eviscerate here. So I think So He-lee is a little misguided in assuming that Missys’ “flamboyant desires” came before rather than after that 1994 ad.
2) Questions on Korean LGBT Literature
As explained by Charles at Korean Modern Literature in Translation:
Chasing down a question from long-time commenter Charles (not me^^) and some interesting information about Yi Kwang-su, I came across some interesting work by Gabriel Sylvian at The Three Wise Monkeys, .
I emailed him some questions and the answers were interesting (and lengthy!) enough that I decided to run them individually, with some comments they evoke from me.
Gabriel, a grad student in Korean Literature at Seoul National University, founded The Korea Gay Literature Project in 2004, and you can read more about him here. In any case, my first question was for background:
Read those questions and answers there, continued in Parts 2 and 3 here and here.
In other Korean LGBT-related news, a gay Korean man recently received refugee status in Canada because of the abuse and discrimination he would be expected to receive during his mandatory 2-year military service (see here also for more on sexual abuse in the military in general); anti-gay art caused a stir at a recent Seoul National University exhibition; and – sorry for not noticing earlier – the Korean gay movie 알이씨REC below came out last month, which you can find many links about here.
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3) Japan’s ‘Mancession‘
As Tokyo-based New York Times reporter Hiroko Tabuchi put it:
Very interesting in its own right of course, that Bloomberg article referred to is also particularly useful in contrasting the Korean government and businesses’ decision to fire women in droves in response to the financial crisis, as in the US and – now Japan – it was actually men that suffered more. Indeed, in the former working women came to outnumber working men for the first time in its history (see story #5 below also).
4) Another Reason to Hate Naesoong and Aegyo
Via Tumblr Kitty Kitty Korea (but actually written by Party in the R.O.K.):
I can’t count all the times I’ve said “I’m going home” and attempted to leave wherever I was, and the Korean guy would be like “Oh, no you don’t!” and grab my wrists or shoulders or take my phone or hold me against a wall so I was physically unable to get out. No, man, I’m not just saying I want to go to be cute; I want to go. It’s not until I start thrashing around and yelling at them that they let go, and then they just act really confused. (I’m guessing that it’s a thing for Korean girls to pretend they want to leave a man so they can watch him beg for them to stay. Korean couples go on all sorts of weird power trips I just don’t get coming from the relatively sane world of American dating.)
Read there for her discussion of what lay behind that confusion. Also, I don’t mean to cause and/or perpetuate negative stereotypes about Korean men, and should be(!) the very last person to ask for dating advice, so please let me know how that does or doesn’t match your own dating experiences.
Update – By a wonderful coincidence, 5 minutes after I published this post this one appeared at Seoulbeats, about how seemingly every Korean drama features the male lead grabbing the female lead by the wrist and literally dragging her away with him like she was his property and/or child, despite her screams and protests. Sound familiar?
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5) What do Women’s Groups Think of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (MOGEF)?
Not much, according to the Hankyoreh, citing:
…its passive approach in the cases of the comfort women who had been coerced to serve as sex slaves for the Japanese military during World War II and a sexual harassment victim who was dismissed from a Hyundai Motor subcontractor. In the latter case, the occurrence of sexual harassment was acknowledged in January by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, and the victim held a nearly 200-day sit-in protest in front of the MOGEF building when she was not reinstated. The ministry made almost no efforts to offer support, merely reiterating that it was “not within our legal authority to help victims.”
And also that:
In addition to its failure to do its job, the ministry has also added fuel to existing conflicts in the most bewildering of places. A case in point was its embarrassment after indiscriminately handing out “19 and older” ratings to songs with references to alcohol in their lyrics. Meanwhile, a late-night Internet shutdown system for those aged 16 and under has stirred up a controversy over violations of freedom.
Hey, I’m no fan of the Lee Myung-bak administration, and indeed I think its mixed performance in other areas of governance pale in comparison to its appalling record on women’s rights, which will be one of its most enduring legacies. Having said that, it’s a real struggle to find a Hankyoreh article that doesn’t criticize the present government in some form or another, whereas MOGEF does have a point about its relative powerlessness (it has only 0.12% of the total government budget for instance), the editor’s assertion that “if its authority is limited, then it can only survive by constantly raising issues and making its voice heard” proving my own point that this is the very impetus behind its constant censorship of K-pop (but not that I’m for that either!). Also, when Lee Myung-bak himself encouraged the firing of women in 2008 (see #3 above), then it deserves at least some praise for its recent efforts at job creation (source, right):
On December 23, MOGEF presented its plans to provide individually tailored job assistance programs for 130,000 people in 2012 before the Korean Youth Counseling Institute with President Lee Myung-bak in attendance.
The plan stipulates expanding the number of job training centers for women to 111 by next year and developing more in-depth programs for those with less access to employment opportunities, such as migrant women and women with disabilities. Furthermore, the Women Friendly City program, which currently counts 30 cities among its members and has received growing interest from regional administrations, will expand to 40 cities. MOGEF will also perform assessments, differentiating for gender, to measure the effects of such programs.
Read the rest at Korea.net. It does have to be acknowledged though, that still much much more is needed to boost female employment in Korea, as today’s final link – this comprehensive report from the Korea Herald – makes clear.
Advice to Women Looking for Work: “Say you like to sing and dance”
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Last week, I posted a translation of an article about sexual discrimination in the hiring practices of several major Korean companies, some only hiring one woman for every four men. As a follow-up, here’s a recent interview of a young woman looking for work, to give readers a better sense of what that discrimination means from job-seekers’ perspective. Naturally, the focus is on women, but much of what the interviewee describes applies to men too:
“여자 신입사원들은 지들이 공주인줄 알아” / “New female employees all think of themselves as princesses”
“엄마가 없는 형편에 정장 사주면서 꼭 취업하라고 했는데… 엄마 목소리 들으니까 눈물이 나.”
“My mom bought me a suit in our poor circumstances and told me I must get a job…hearing her voice makes me cry.”
13일 저녁 중곡동의 한 포장마차에서 혼자 술을 마시던 김선희(가명?24)씨는 전화기를 부여잡고 울고 있었다. 포장마차 테이블 넘어로 들려오는 그녀의 울음 섞인 대화에 가슴이 저릿해 몰래 엿들었다.
On the evening of the 13th at a food stand in Junggok-dong, Kim Sun-hee (false name, 24), drinking alone, was clutching a phone and crying. Her tearful conversation, audible beyond the food stand table, moved me so I secretly eavesdropped.
김해에서 서울로 상경해 수도권에 있는 사범대를 다니는 김씨는 대학졸업반이다. 그녀의 서울 생활만큼 취업은 녹록지 않았다. 전화 통화를 끝낸 그녀에게 말을 붙여 혼자 술을 마시게 된 사연을 들을 수 있었다.
(Sources: left, right)
Kim, who had moved from Gimhae to Seoul and who attends a college of education in the capital area, is a senior. Getting a job is not as easy as her life in Seoul. After she finished her conversation I approached her and heard the story of how she had come to be drinking alone.
”좀 청승맞죠? 근처에 사는데 오늘은 정말 너무 힘들어서 술이라도 안 마시면 화병 날 것 같았어요. 오늘 면접을 5군데 봤어요. 서울 남쪽, 북쪽 할 것 없이 면접보러 다녔어요. 긴장을 풀었다 놓으니까 정말 미치겠더라고요. 나중에는 (면접보면서) 헛소리까지 했어요. 제가 너무 긴장을 해서 눈을 못 마주치니까, 면접관이 사시냐고 물어보더라고요. 아마 떨어지겠죠.”
“Pitiful, aren’t I? I live in the area, and today was so hard, if I don’t at least drink alcohol I think I’ll get sick from repressing anger [hwabyeong]. Today I had 5 interviews. I went around north Seoul, south Seoul, everywhere, to interview. I kept going from nervous to calm, so I thought I’d go crazy. Later (as I was being interviewed) I was even talking nonsense. I was so nervous that I couldn’t make eye contact, so the interviewer asked if I was cross-eyed. I must have failed the interview.”
Image Caption: “하이킥 짧은 다리의 역습” 미 래의 88만원 세대 백진희가 인턴으로 취직을 하기 위해 면접을 보고 있다 /Future 880,000 won generation member Baek Jin-hee is interviewed for an internship in comedy program “High Kick: Short Legs’ Counterattack.”
취업하기 위해 춤과 노래를 권유하는 사회/ A society that urges singing and dancing to get hired
대기업 인턴, 자격증, 교생실습, 알바까지 그녀의 대학 생활은 ‘낭만’이 아닌 ‘알바와 스펙쌓기’로 채워졌다. 1년의 휴학 기간 조차 그녀에겐 휴식이 아닌 이력서에 채울 경험을 쌓으면서 보냈다. 그렇게 열심히 대학 생활을 한 그녀였지만, 면접에서 쏟아지는 질문들은 그녀를 난처하게 만들었다.
Her university life, with its internship at a large company, certificates, teaching practice, and even part-time work, was filled with “accumulating part-time work and qualifications”, an activity which lacked romance. Even the one-year break she took from university was not a rest, and was spent gaining experiences to fill her resume. Though she had worked so hard during university, the hailstorm of questions at the interview landed her in difficulties.
“오늘 면접 본 회사에서는 대놓고 이런 말을 했어요. 회사는 일을 배우려고 하는 사람을 뽑는 곳이 아니고, 일을 잘 해서 성과를 낼 수 있는 사람을 뽑는다. 당신 같은 사람보다는 잘하는 사람 뽑고 싶다고… 기업은 이윤을 창출하는 곳이니까 안타깝지만 어쩔 수 없죠.”
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“At the company where I interviewed today, they said this to my face: this company is not a place that hires people who intend to learn the work, it hires people who do this work well and so get results. We want to hire people who do better than someone like you. A business is a place that creates profit, so though it’s regrettable, it can’t be helped.”
그녀가 면접을 본 외국계 회사 중 한 곳은 면접에 들어가자마자 영어로 질문을 했다고 한다. 자기 소개를 하기 전부터 쏟아지는 영어 질문에 그녀는 적잖게 당황했다고 한다. 심지어 취업상담센터에서는 그녀가 쓴 이력서의 취미란을 ‘춤추기와 노래하기’로 고치라고 권유했다.
She said that at one of the foreign companies at which she interviewed, they started asking her questions in English as soon as she entered the interview [room]. This rain of English questions that came before she introduced herself flustered her more than a little. Furthermore, an employment counseling center urged her to amend her hobbies to “dancing and singing” on the resume she had made.
“지루한 사람으로 보일 수 있겠지만, 제 취미는 진짜 독서랑 요리예요. 그런데 취업상담센터에서는 회사 레크리에이션과 회식자리에서 잘 놀 수 있는 사람을 뽑을 수 있으니까 춤추기, 노래하기로 취미를 바꾸래요. 취업하는데 춤추고 노래까지 불러야 해요?”
“It might make me look boring, but my hobbies really are reading and cooking. But the employment counseling center said companies can choose people who can have fun during company recreation activities and office dinners so I should change my hobbies to dancing and singing. I’m [just] looking for a job – I even have to dance and sing?”
취업준비생들에게 이력서 취미란은 고민되는 항목이다. 평범하게 적으면 불이익을 받을 수도 있고, 막상 돋보이게 적으려고 해도 ‘색다른 취미’란 것이 없기 때문이다. 그래서 남자 취업준비생들 가운데 대부분은 취미란에는 축구와 등산을 적는 이들이 많다.
What they write down as hobbies on their resume is a cause for worry for job-seekers. That’s because if they write it in an average way, they could be at a disadvantage, but even if they try to write it so that they stand out, they don’t actually have an “unusual hobby.” So among male job-seekers, there are many who write down soccer and hiking as their hobbies. (source, right)
대놓고 신입사원에 대한 험담을 하는 회사도 있었다.
There are companies that badmouth new employees in their presence
“한 회사는 ‘요즘 여자 신입사원들은 뽑아 놓으면 지들이 공주인줄 알아. 밑바닥부터 시작할 생각을 해야지. 어디서 공주 행세야’라고 말하는 회사도 있었어요. 전 공주 소리 들어본 적도 없는데… 그래서 저는 (사장님께) 30분 먼저 출근해서 책상을 닦아 드린다고 말했어요. 책상이 깨끗하면 그 날 하루를 기분 좋게 시작할 수 있으니까요. 은근히 그런 거 바란다니까요. 기업 문화도 문제지만, 이 정도는 각오해야죠.”
“One company said, ‘These days, we hire new female employees and they think of themselves as princesses. They should expect to start at the bottom. Why are they acting like princesses?’ No one’s ever called me a princess … so I said (to the company president) that I would arrive at work 30 minutes early and clean his desk. Because if your desk is clean, you can start the day in a good mood. Because inwardly, that’s what they want. Business culture is also a problem, but you have to be prepared to do that much.”
눈물을 훔치는 그녀의 말 끝에서 안타까운 한숨이 흘러 나왔다. 기자와 김씨의 대화를 듣고 있던 4년차 직장인인 기자의 지인은 “회사는 외국계인데, 사장은 한국 사람이구나”라고 말했다.
As she finished speaking, wiping away tears, she sighed pitifully. An office worker in her 4th-year and acquaintance of this reporter who had been listening to our conversation said, “Ah, so it’s a foreign company, but the boss is Korean.”
화제 전환을 위해 그녀에게 선생님이 될 생각은 없냐고 물었다. 그녀는 실제로 교생실습을 하기도 했으며, 이번 학기를 마치면 교원자격증을 취득한다. 하지만 그녀가 선생님이 되는 길은 멀고도 험한 길이었다.
(Source)
To change the subject, I asked her if she had thought of becoming a teacher. She had had actual teaching practice, and when she finished this semester she would acquire her teaching certificate [with which she can teach at some private schools and is eligible to take the test to work at public schools]. However, she said the path to becoming a teacher was long and rough.
“선생님 되고 싶죠. 과정이 힘든 것은 견딜 수 있어요. 하지만 대학 졸업 후에도 임용시험 준비한다고 부모님께 손 벌릴 수는 없잖아요. 그리고 사립학교 교사라도 되려면 몇 천만원을 내야 돼요. 저희 집에는 그렇게 큰 돈 없어요. 공립 학교는 준비하는데 몇 년 걸리고, 합격하기 어려워요. 만약 임용 시험에 실패하면 나이 27살에 이력서에 ‘임용 준비’ 이렇게 쓸 수 없잖아요. 그래서 선생님이 되는 것 포기하고, 일반 기업에 취업하려고 하는데 잘 안 되네요.”
“Yeah, I want to be a teacher. I can endure that the process is difficult. But even after graduating university, if I prepare for the [public school] teaching certification test, my parents can’t afford to pay for that. And if I want to become even a private-school teacher, I have to pay tens of millions of won [tens of thousands of dollars]. My family doesn’t have that much money. Preparing for a public school takes a few years, and it’s difficult to pass the test. If I fail the teaching certification test, I can’t put “teaching certification test preparation” on a resume when I’m 27, you know. So I gave up on becoming a teacher and intended to get a job in a regular business, but it’s not going well.”
(Source)
그녀의 유일한 소망은 ‘직장인‘ / Her only wish is [to be] an ‘office worker’
“정치권에서 청년들이 취업을 못하는 이유는 열정과 창의력이 없기 때문이래요. 저는 한 직장에서 뼈를 묻을 만큼 열심히 할 자신 있어요. 열정도 있고, 창의력도 있어요. 그런데 취업을 못해요. 돈도 없어요. 이명박 대통령, 나경원 서울시장 후보가 청년들 일자리 만들어 준다고 하잖아요. 그 사람들이 어떻게 청년들 현실을 알아요. 돈 많고, 배부른 사람들인데…(이번 서울시장 재보궐 선거도)말이 아닌 진심으로 청년실업 문제 해결한다고 하면 청년들이 뽑아주겠죠. “
“Political circles say that the reason that young people can’t get jobs is because they have no passion or creativity. I’m confident that I can work hard enough to die at an office. I have passion and creativity. But I can’t get a job. I don’t have money, either. President Lee Myung-bak, the Seoul mayoral candidate Na Gyeong-won, you know they said they would create jobs for young people. How do those people know young people’s reality? They are people who have a lot of money, and whose stomachs are full but… (in this Seoul mayoral re-election too) if they sincerely say that they will solve the youth employment problem, young people will vote for them.”
그녀는 소위 말하는 ‘개념 찬 대학생’이다. 2008년 미국산 쇠고기 수입에 반대하는 촛불집회에 참여하기도 했고, 노무현 전 대통령의 추모식 때 자원봉사를 하기도 했다. 정치에 대한 얘기가 나오자 그녀는 한층 격앙된 목소리로 말을 이어갔다.
She is a so-called “thoughtful university student” [lit. “full of concepts,” but has more to do with being aware of your world and taking care of it].” She participated in the candlelight rallies against importing beef from the United States in 2008, and did volunteer work at former president Roh Moo-hyun’s memorial service. As the topic turned to politics, she went on in an increasingly agitated voice. (source, right)
“(이번 선거는) 꼭 투표할 거예요. 대학생들 중에서 투표 안 하고, 정치에 무관심한 것이 쿨한 줄 착각하는 학생들이 있어요. 사실 정치는 우리 삶과 연관되어 있기 때문에 정치에 무관심하면 나중에 자신한테 돌아와요. 부메랑처럼.”
“(In this election) I will definitely vote. There are some university students who don’t vote, and mistakenly think that not being interested in politics is cool. Actually, because politics is connected to our lives, if you are not interested in that, it will come back on you. Like a boomerang.
“서울에서 살기 너무 힘들어요. 전세금, 물가 비싸잖아요. 전 학교 다니면서 생활비를 다 벌어서 썼어요. 아르바이트를 쉰 적이 없었어요. 뭘 하려고 하면 돈이 필요하니까요. 정말 닥치는 대로 일했어요. 사실 대기업 가려는 이유도 돈 때문이잖아요. 연봉은 물론이고, 퇴직금도 두둑하잖아요. 대기업다니는 직장인들은 월급이 스쳐지나간다고 하잖아요. 통장에 찍힌 월급 명세서를 볼 때 유일하게 행복하대요. 제 희망연봉은 2200만 원이에요. 이 정도 (연봉) 못 받으면 서울에서 살기 힘들어요. 근데 대기업은 매번 떨어지니까, 눈을 낮춰서 일반 중소기업이라도 감사하게 생각하고 들어가려고 해요”
Living in Seoul is really hard. Prices and key-money leases are expensive. While going to school I made and spent all of my money for living expenses. I haven’t had a break from doing part time work. Because if I want to do something, I need money. I’ve really done any work I could. Actually, the reason I want to work at a major company is also because of money. Because of the salary, of course, and the pension is also generous. They say that the monthly pay of employees at major companies flashes by [comes regularly]. Their only pleasure is seeing their monthly pay statement stamped in their bankbook. The salary I would like is 22 million won [about 19,800 USD]. If I can’t get that much, living in Seoul will be hard. But because I keep failing to get into a major company, I plan to lower my standards and be thankful for and work at even an average mid-size company.
그녀는 면접관에게 “이 회사에서 뼈를 묻겠다고 말했다”고 했다. 한 직장에서 뼈를 묻을 정도로 오래 일하는 것이 가능하지도 않지만, 안타까운 것은 ‘뼈를 묻는다’는 절박한 표현을 써야하는 우리 사회의 암울한 취업 현실이었다. 안타까운 마음이 들어 그녀에게 ‘꿈’에 대해서 물었다.
She said she told an interviewer, “I will work until I die at this company.” It’s not possible to work at one office so long that you die, but the regrettable thing was the grim employment situation of our society, that must use the desperate expression “die [lit. “bury bones”].” Feeling pity, I asked her about her “dreams.” (source, right)
“취직해서 시집갈 수 있을 정도로 적금 들고, 집에 많지는 않지만 생활비 보내드릴 수 있을 정도로 사는 거예요. 소박하죠. 근데 이 꿈조차 이룰 수 없게 우리 사회가 막막해요. 취업을 하는 것도, 직장에서 안 잘리고 버티는 것도 어렵잖아요. 원래는 꿈이 거창했는데, 사회의 쓴 맛을 보니 소박한 꿈도 쉽지 않은 것을 알게 됐어요.”
“Getting a job so I can save enough money to get married, and living so that I can send money home – not a lot, but living expenses. Simple, aren’t they? But our society, that can’t let me realize even these dreams, puts me at a loss. Getting a job, and then not getting fired and enduring at a workplace are hard. Originally, my dreams were grandiose, but after being taught a bitter lesson by society, I found out that even simple dreams are not easy.
그녀는 1%가 아닌 99%다. 소위 ‘SKY’라는 일류 대학을 졸업하지 않았고, 자녀에게 수십억의 자산을 물려줄 수 있는 부유한 부모님 밑에서 자라지도 않았다. 또한 취업을 통해 ‘신분상승’이 이루어질 것이란 꿈도 꾸지 않는다. 그녀가 유일하게 소망하는 것이 있다면 ‘직장인’이 되는 것이다.
She’s one of the 99%, not the 1%. She didn’t graduate from one of the top-tier “SKY” universities, and she didn’t grow up with wealthy parents who could leave their children inheritances of billions [millions in USD]. Also, she doesn’t dream that, through getting a job, she can become “upwardly mobile.” If there’s one thing she wishes for, it’s becoming an “office worker.”
4년의 서울 생활이 그녀에게 안겨준 것은 학자금의 빚과 사회의 높은 문턱이었다. 한 시간이 조금 넘도록 얘기하면서 그녀는 틈틈이 눈물을 닦았고, 틈틈이 소주 반 잔을 입속에 털어 넣었다. 그리고 혼자 술을 마시던 그녀를 걱정해 한 걸음에 달려온 그녀의 친구 앞에 다시 눈물을 흘렸다.
What four years of life in Seoul have given her are student loan debts and society’s high threshold. While talking for a little over an hour, she wiped away tears from time to time and poured a half-glass of soju past her lips from time to time. Also, she cried again in front of her friend, who had come running without hesitation because of worry over her friend drinking alone.
(Source)
‘아프니까 청춘이다’라는 말이 있다. 기왕이면 안 아픈 청춘이면 좋으련만, 우리 시대의 청춘 가운데 99%는 현실의 높은 벽에 부딪혀 아프고 절망한다. 20대라면 누구나 잠시 거쳐가는 성장통일까? 아니면 경쟁을 강권하는 우리 사회가 만들어 낸 어쩔 수 없는 아픔일까? 후자라면 ‘어디’를 점령해야 해결될 문제인지 고민해 볼 필요가 있지 않을까? 이런 저런 생각을 하는 동안 그녀는 “다음에 여기서 검은 정장을 입고 혼자서 술을 마시고 있으면 또 면접 떨어진 줄 아세요”라고 말하며 떠났다.
There is a saying [from the title of a recent book]: “Youth is pain [Lit: “it hurts so you are young”].” That said, a youth without pain would be nice, but 99% of our era’s youth are running into the high wall of reality and feeling pain and despair. Is it the fleeting growing pains that anyone in their 20s feels? Is it the unavoidable pain created by a society that compels competition? If it’s the latter, isn’t it necessary to think about where we need to take control of in order to fix this problem? While I was thinking about that, she said, “Next time, if I’m wearing a suit and drinking alone, know that I’ve failed an interview again,” and left. (end)
Update: See I’m no Picassso for an interesting follow-on post.
(Thanks to Marilyn for the translation)
University Graduates: One Woman Hired for every Four Men
(Source, adapted)
Women – not men – were fired in droves at the start of the 2008 financial crisis. But was that as outrageously sexist as it sounds?
After all, they were the bulk of irregular workers back then, when Korea had a greater percentage of them than any other OECD country. Insecurity was a given, which is why the status and rights of irregular workers was a big political issue years before the crisis.
Also, bear in mind that most single people live with their parents until marriage. So, however perverse, there was a certain logic in the government concentrating on securing jobs for (overwhelmingly male) heads of households, as husbands would provide for their wives, and fathers for their daughters.
In such strained circumstances, it sounds almost churlish of women to complain about that arrangement.
But women were also the first to be fired during the the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, back when Korea had the smallest number of irregular workers in the OECD. Indeed, it was generally only this newly emerging irregular work that was made available to women – especially mothers – once the Korean economy began to recover, and accordingly the Korean female workforce participation rate has stagnated at the lowest or near-lowest rate in the OECD ever since, and Korea has by far and away the largest gender wage gap.
Considering this, mere economic rationales of why women have again been treated so differently – badly – by employers in the latest financial crisis should be treated with a great deal of suspicion. In particular, they can’t explain why Korean companies are currently hiring roughly only one female graduate for every four male ones, as the following MK article makes clear:
“취업 성차별” 여대생들의 눈물 / “Sexual discrimination in hiring” [causes] female university students’ tears
31 October 2011
서울 소재 중상위권 대학 졸업반인 이 모씨(25ㆍ여)는 금융권 취업이 목표다. 그는 지난 7월부터 2개월간 한 증권회사 지점에서 인턴사원으로 일하며 우수한 평가를 받아 정규직 전환 1순위로 꼽혔다. 하지만 결과는 실패였다.
The goal of one Ms. Lee (25), member of the graduating class of an upper-mid-level Seoul university, is to get a job in finance. Starting last July, she did a two-month internship at a branch of a securities company, where her superb evaluations caused her to be considered the top choice to be given a permanent position. However, she was unsuccessful.
며 칠 후 이씨는 상사에게서 충격적인 말까지 들었다. “미안하지만 본부에서 남자만 뽑으라는 지시가 내려와 어쩔 수 없었다”는 것. 이씨는 “각 지점에서 매긴 인턴 성적은 여성이 훨씬 높았는데도 당시 정규직으로 입사한 여성은 단 한 명도 없었다”며 “다른 이유도 아니고 ‘여자’라서 꿈이 무너졌다고 생각하니 억울하다”고 토로했다.
A few days later, Ms. Lee even heard these shocking words from her superior: “I’m sorry, but we got instructions from headquarters to only hire men, so there’s nothing I could do.” Ms. Lee revealed, “Though at each branch, the ranked interns’ marks were much higher for women, at that time there was not a single woman among those hired as permanent employees. I think my dream was crushed for no other reason than that I’m a woman, and it’s not fair.” (source, right)
극심한 취업난 속에서 여대생들이 취업 문턱에서 좌절하며 눈물 짓고 있다. 여성 고학력화로 곳곳에서 여풍(女風)이 불고 있지만 채용시장에선 남성 지원자를 선호하는 성(性) 차별이 심각한 것으로 확인됐다.
Amid severe unemployment, female university students at the threshold of getting jobs are being frustrated and shedding tears. Through women’s increased high levels of education, “female wind” is blowing [female influence is making an impact] everywhere, but it has been confirmed that, in the job market, sexual discrimination in favor of male applicants is serious.
지 난달 31일 매일경제신문이 국내 10대 기업을 대상으로 지난해 대졸 신입 공채 합격자 남녀 비율을 조사한 결과 여성은 신입사원 10명 중 1~2명꼴로 나타났다. 여성 신입사원 비율을 평균 내보니 18.5%로 20%를 채 넘지 않았다.
On Oct. 31, the results of an investigation by the Maeil Kyungjae newspaper into the gender ratios of new university graduates hired by 10 major domestic companies last year found that women made up 1 or 2 of every 10 hires. They averaged the percentages of new female employees and found it was 18.5%, not even 20%.
(Source)
기업별로 보면 롯데그룹이 27.5%로 가장 높았고, LG와 SK는 20%, GS는 18%, 한화는 17.1%였다. 현대ㆍ기아차는 10% 후반대로 나타났으며 현대중공업이 9.7%로 대졸 여성 신입직원 비율이 낮았다.
Broken down by company, Lotte Group was the highest at 27.5%, LG and SK were at 20%, GS was at 18%, and Hanhwa was at 17.1%. Hyundai Kia Motors was in the high teens, and Hyundai Heavy Industries had the lowest percentage of women among the recent university graduates they hired, at 9.7%.
최 근 대학생들 사이에 큰 인기를 끌고 있는 두산그룹 기업 이미지 광고 ‘사람이 미래다’에는 취업을 준비하는 여대생이 자주 등장하지만 해당 기업에 여자 신입사원 비중은 18.8%로 매우 낮은 것으로 알려졌다. 두산 관계자는 “업무 특성상 남자 비율이 압도적으로 높아 여성 신입사원 비중이 낮은 편”이라고 말했다. 한진은 대한항공 등 일부 계열사로 공개 범위를 제한했고, 삼성은 공개 자체를 거부했다.
Female college students looking for employment often appear in the corporate image advertisements of Doosan Group, which is gaining popularity among current university students, but it has become known that the ratio of female new employees at this company, at 18.8%, is very low. A Doosan official said, “The nature of this business is [requires] an overwhelmingly high percentage of men and so a pretty low ratio of women.” Hanjin limited the range [of information] made public to some subsidiaries like Korean Air, and Samsung refused to release any information.
통계청에 따르면 지난해 여성 대졸자는 27만1773명으로 남성 대졸자(26만8223명)를 10년 만에 처음 앞질렀다. 하지만 대졸 여성 실업자 수는 14만2000명으로 관련 통계 조사를 시작한 후 사상 최고치를 기록했다.
(Source)
According to the National Statistical Office, the number of female university graduates last year, at 271,773, outstripped that of male graduates (268,223) for the first time in 10 years. However, the number of female graduates who were unemployed was 142,000, the highest on record.
결국 기업들이 여성 인재를 적극 채용할 수 있는 제도적 기반 마련에 미흡하다는 지적이 나오고 있다. 전문가들은 섬세함과 부드러움, 배려심, 소통 능력 등 여성만이 가진 강점에 주목해 기업이 경영전략 차원에서 인식을 바꿔야 한다고 강조했다. 김왕배 연세대 사회학과 교수는 “후기 산업사회로 넘어오면서 남성성을 상징하는 ‘하드웨어 소사이어티’보다 섬세함으로 대변되는 ‘소프트웨어 소사이어티’가 부각되고 있다”며 “소비자 욕구를 잘 잡아내는 기업이 살아남기 때문에 여성 인력 장점을 극대화할 필요가 있다”고 설명했다.
In the end, it is being noted that there is a lack of arrangements for institutional groundwork from which businesses can actively hire talented women. Experts have emphasized that businesses need to take notice of strengths that only women possess, like delicacy, softness, thoughtfulness, and communicative ability and so change their perceptions at the level of corporate strategy. Kim Wang-bae, a sociology professor at Yonsei University, explained, “As we become a post-industrial society, ‘software society,’ which represents delicacy, is becoming emphasized over ‘hardware society,’ which symbolizes masculinity. Because businesses that excel at capturing consumer demands survive, it is necessary to maximize the strengths of female personnel.” (end)
As always, news like this strongly challenges narratives of a glorious future of Korean grrrl power that pervade the English language media about Korea (see here for a discussion of the above video for instance). But I confess that I was still shocked at the figures above, although perhaps I shouldn’t have been when even an implicit advocate of women’s rights like Professor Kim Wang-bae above subscribes to the same delicate women / tough men worldview that Doosan Group does!
(Thanks to Marilyn for the translation).
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