Why do Korean Women
Choose to Remain
Unmarried?
Ji Hye Yang (Jane)
“I don’t want to get married in South Korea!” The
number of Korean women who choose to remain unmarried is rapidly increasing
now. Why do they give up getting married? The answer is simple. They are going against society that forces women to live as a mother, not a woman. To avoid losing
their own life as a woman, they choose to remain single. They take the pictures
of their single life and upload them on their social media to show people they
are living well though they do not get married.
The
number of unmarried women
Data: The
Korea National Statistical Office
Since the late 1980s, women have chosen to remain
single for many reasons. According to the Korea National Statistical Office, 1,384,047 women in their 30’s and 40’s were single as of
2015. That figure is more than twice that of 10 years ago. This drastic jump
resulted from women changing their perception on life. They think marriage is no longer a
necessity but rather an option in the 21st century.
Reasons
for determining single status
There are many reasons for remaining unmarried women.
Above all, career is the number one reason. Women who have a child are
forced to leave their jobs, and it is really hard to return to work in Korea.
While raising a child, they have to find another job which is not related to their
original career.
The issue of childcare also affects women living alone. In Korean society, people have a idea that women who give birth
have to stay at home to raise a child and do housework, and men have to
work in the office. On account of this perception, men think childcare is not
their own work, so they hardly ever help women at home. Eventually, women
realize they are losing their own life by spending all day caring for a baby and
cleaning up a house. Kim Chan-seon is a 30 year-old engineer who dreamed of
becoming a good wife and wise mother has a child said “I thought I would be
happy to marry and have a baby. However, a friend of mine who is
married has suffered from depression because her husband did not help her, she couldn’t do childcare and housework alone. I changed my mind and
chose to remain single to live my life for myself.”
For these reasons, women give up on marriage, but
we have to respect their decision instead of blaming or forcing them to get
married. More needs to be done for supporting women and their life decisions and education men’s perception about women and their roles in society, life as a woman and a mother.
Sources:
http://www.arirang.co.kr/News/News_View.asp?nseq=212205
http://www.ohmynews.com/NWS_Web/View/at_pg.aspx?CNTN_CD=A0002430625&CMPT_CD=P0010&utm_source=naver&utm_medium=newsearch&utm_campaign=naver_news
http://kostat.go.kr/portal/korea/index.action
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