Credit: Public domain.
The gendered politics of South Korea have traveled down to the younger generation.
In a survey conducted by Chosun Ilbo 조선일보 and Seoul National University 국립서울대학교, fewer than one out of ten (9.3%) teenaged women (aged between 16 and 19) said marriage is a requirement. More than half (50.3%) said they did not want to have children. The response is in stark contrast to their male peers, who felt more duty-bound for marriage (30.7%) and willing to have children (67.7%).
The teenagers, however, showed some convergence in the deconstruction of traditional gender norms. The majority of both men and women (65.7% for men, 55.1% for women) said men must be primarily responsible for providing for the family, and did not agree that women should be primarily responsible for raising children (70.6% for men, 70.1% for women).