Gender wars. How this happens in South Korea

South Korea is a country where women have traditionally been assigned a subordinate role. This was enshrined in social philosophy (Confucianism) and law. Only in the mid-2000s, a system was canceled there, which endowed the man with the official status of the “head of the family” and a place in state registers. The woman was given only a dependent place in the registry of her father, and then her husband.

The traditional distribution of roles-the husband as a source of earnings, the wife as the keeper of the hearth-was undermined by the economic crisis of the 1990s. However, this only exacerbated the situation. Men, as QUARTZ writes, often began to pluck dissatisfaction with women.

The attacks caused a response - from the side of the radical feminists. The movement "Megalia", which appeared only a year ago, was not limited to campaigns in defense of women. His activists went further - they began to respond to sexism and mockery of the same. In fact - humiliate men.

Many, including some moderate feminists, accused the activists of going too far. But they believe that this is the only way to pay attention to sexism and discrimination of women - to make men feel the same. “While feminism was cute, no one paid attention to it,” they say .

How it began

South Korea successfully developed until the mid-1990s. The country was called one of the "Asian tigers." It was part of the twenty major economies in the world.

All this supported the traditional model of the family: husband - employee, wife - housewife. However, the Asian crisis of 1997-1998 struck it. Hundreds of thousands of people lost their jobs. Entrepreneurs, having lost their earnings, often did not dare to say this to families. They pretended that they were going to work, and instead spent time, walking in the park.

Now the economy of South Korea is growing again, although at a low pace. However, difficulties are preserved - in particular, with regard to its large corporations. Among the latter are Samsung's failures (the review of exploding smartphones will cost the company more than $ 5 billion), the bankruptcy of the Hanjin Shipping shipbuilding company and the strike of tens of thousands of Hyundai Motor employees demanding an increase in salaries.

The debt of the population of South Korea grew over the past 10 years. Now it is close to 90% of GDP - one of the largest in the world . At the same time, the country has high unemployment among young people - about 10%. Many of those who have received higher education cannot find a job.

As a result, competition in the labor market has become stronger, including between men and women. And this exacerbated gender relations.

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