According to a 2017 report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the gender pay gap in South Korea is the highest among its 37 member states. Working women earn nearly 40 percent less than men, and many quit work when they have children, who are often under pressure from their families and workplaces.
Other countries in the region, including Japan – which also has an aging population and a low birth rate – have large gender differences, especially in terms of pregnancy. In Japan, the term “matahara” (shortly before harassment) caught on when a woman’s allegations of bullying in the workplace after her birth in 2014 were heard in the country’s high court.
This declining population poses a threat to the economies of the countries, making it all the more important for governments to tread carefully to encourage women to have children.
Last year, the South Korean population declined for the first time on record, declining by nearly 21,000. Births fell by more than 10.5 percent, and deaths rose by 3 percent. The Ministry of Home Affairs and Security acknowledged the worrying implications and said that in the midst of the rapidly declining birth rate, the government should make fundamental changes to its appropriate policies.
Although the government in Seoul may have wavered in its advice, the setback, according to some, proved that attitudes were changing.
“This is just outdated advice,” said Adele Vitale, a native doula and Italian expatriate who has lived in Busan, a port city on the country’s south coast, for a decade.
Mrs. Vitale, who works primarily with foreign women married to Korean men, said that although Korean society has traditionally viewed pregnant women as “unfit,” she has increasingly seen their husbands adopt more egalitarian views on childbirth and child rearing.
“Family dynamics have evolved,” she said. “Women are no longer willing to be treated like that.”