Gender Bias in Korea and Japan - Essay Example

Gender Bias in Korea and Japan Koreans and Japanese are considered to have similar beliefs in almost all aspects of life, from culture and tradition to organization within their society. Gender inequality has been a persistent problem in both the nations since their establishment. The social problem has been catalyzed by their almost similar beliefs in culture and traditions, which supports male chauvinism and dominance. The traditional woman in the Korean society is considered one that takes care of her family at home. The husband is the head of the house and is expected to fend for the family. These views are similar to those in the traditional Japan culture. To analyze the gender bias in the two societal set ups, this paper analyzes and compares gender bias in employment and education opportunities in the two communities. From the early societies in Korea, women were considered to the weaker sex, and thus were discriminated from equal opportunities for education and employment. From the Korean history, Buddhism was introduced and adopted by the early kingdoms dating back to C.E 372 as the state religion. The religion emphasizes its rejection on worldly concerns and values, including family. Although the religion did not impose male chauvinism, it did not advocate for gender equality in the society. Confucianism succeeded this religion after Chosun Dynasty took from the Koryo. The values in this belief were derived from Confucius and his followers. In essence, Confucianism viewed the family as the basic fundamental unit of the society. The family was held responsible for economic functions like consumption and production, socialization and economical development of the society, in line with moral and ethical guides of the community. The philosophy of Confucianism advocated for ancestral worship and delegation of male mastery in rituals (Janelli 124). This was the beginning of male dominance in the Korean society. The philosophy perpetuated the ideology of male superiority within a family and society leading to gender inequality in education and job opportunism. In the patriarchal Confucianism, a stem family preceded its members and is identified with the clan. The family consisted of two families, a father, and mother living under the same roof with their eldest married son, who later inherited the family estates. The important relationship in the family was not that of a husband and wife, but rather that of a father and son. This relationship was hierarchical and characterized by authority, obedience, and benevolence. Different status existed among the family members depending on the gender, but the overall authority was left for the male head of the family. Women’s roles were primarily domestic. They were prepared from an early age for their family functions of offering physical needs and moral guidance of the domestic environment. To sum their roles, the philosophy of Confucianism expected a woman to be a caring and wise mother, a dutiful and obedient wife, and a self-sacrificing daughter in law. These moral teachings were transmitted to the next generations, and still have an effect in the current traditional Korean society. The Confucian value promoted a sharp difference in gender in a marriage. The women were restricted to domestic chores. The highest authority they had was that of carrying family keys of food stores. The rule of three obedience observed that a woman was to respect first, her father, then husband and lastly, son. Consequently, only the husband held the rights to a divorce. If the husband decided to do so, the woman would be expelled from the in-laws. The traditions gave the man absolute power over the woman in marriage. Interestingly, women were paying dowry for marriage (Kim 14). Other factors that indicate gender discrimination in the Korean society include the Korean language. Languages, being as vital to our lives as the air, contain the most common means of communication. The language used by people most often symbolizes their social, cultural and ideological beliefs. The Korean language contains a large number of female discrimination expressions that limit women’s role in the society, degradation, sexuality, and patriarchy. Expressions like that of a crow-tit (women) trying to walk like storks (men) and breaking its legs in the process, only further the inferiority of females. Today, despite South Korea having one of the world’s highly educated workforces with 37% women and 42% men past college education, women are still very disadvantaged in the labor industry. The women have to balance between home commitments and the long working hours. This is as a result of cultural emphasis still prominent in the society that men are the breadwinners in a family and women the homemakers. These extreme factors of traditional and cultural beliefs, poor enforcement of equal opportunities in education and employment opportunities and limited childcare system combine to deny the female child gender equality in the society. Nevertheless, the South-Korean government has passed some legislation in the past advocating for gender equality. The Equal Employment Opportunity revision of 2001, the Quota system for women employment in 1997, Gender Discrimination in 1996, the 1999 Framework Law on women’s, the establishment of the Gender Equality ministry in 2000, and the most important, abolition of patriarchal family system in 2005, to mention a few. The Japanese female counterparts face similar problems in their society. Female discrimination in Japan remains high due to failure in reporting. This failure may be attributed to inadequate law and police failure in treating female victim related cases with concern. For instance, Japanese laws require proof of resistance in cases of rape. The limitation to report a rape case is only six months. These discrimination problems are a result of the strong patriarchal family structure in the Japanese society. Japanese cultures are very similar to those of Koreans. First born son inherited the family estate (Dore 285). Women are considered inferior to their male counterparts. The cultures dictate that a woman should remain at home to take care of children and the family. In the education and employment opportunity field, women are sidelined, and the chances are given to men. The difference between the Japanese and the Koreans is that the relationship between a husband and wife came first then that of father and son followed. Reviewing the Japanese culture and tradition, its industrial relations during the peak periods were based on the three famous pillars; enterprise unionism, lifetime employment, and seniority-plus-merit- pay. The lifetime employment policy pillar highly proved to be a disadvantage for women economic participation. Only men were hired for lifetime. A woman was expected to raise children and stay at home, thus they were only eligible for the part-time or temporary employment. Despite civilization, firms in Japan still hold that permanent jobs are ideal for men, not women. Analyzing the current workforce in Japan on the basis of part-time and permanent employment, statistics show that 70% of part-time employees are women. The patriarchal family model still views the man as the ideal breadwinner and the woman’s income as a mere supplement. The cultural values of the early Japanese societies have had a major influence on the social norms of today’s Japan. These values have been ingrained in educational and labor institutions of the present times. Another contributing factor to gender inequality is the Japanese family tax policy. If a spouse earns less than twelve thousand, five hundred dollars, the family receives a tax deduction and the dependent partner (usually the wife) has a medical insurance cover and pension. With this tax policy, married women either choose to stay at home or be employed in part-time low-income jobs, rather than have a permanent job that will deprive the family tax benefits. The culture of workplace devotion also deprives the women permanent job opportunities. Permanent employees are required to work late, in line with the service overtime policy, and engage in after-office activities till late night. Women, while balancing between career and family, are forced to take part-time jobs. This results to a gender-segregated workforce dominated by males (Turner136). Physical violence has been the major reason present in courts as grounds for divorce. The degree of violence against women in the Japanese society and the inadequacy of laws restricting such acts encourage the gender inequality in the society. Another imminent problem associated with women in Japan is prostitution and trafficking of women. Japan has the largest sex industry with women trafficked from all over Asia. Article 177 of the penal code sets Japan’s sexual activity consent age limit at thirteen years only, and this may have attributed largely for early girl-child prostitution. In relation to this, pornography and negative depiction of females by the media contributes to violence against women. Discriminatory laws in Japan have spread the gender bias deeper into the society. Laws concerning remarrying after divorce favor men to women. Civil code article 733 restricts women from remarrying before expiry of six months after divorce. In contrast, men are allowed to remarry immediately. Another plight of the girl-child in Japan is the legal marriage age, which stands at 16 years compared to the male’s 18 years. Evidently, the women in Japanese society have been sidelined by the society to this extent. Despite these discriminating factors, Japan has enacted numerous acts for the promotion of gender equity in the Japanese society. The employment opportunity act revision of 2007, the child-care leave in 1992, the Gender Equal social basic law in 1999 and the creation of the ministry of social affairs and gender equality in 2005. Nevertheless, gender discrimination remains high. In conclusion, the Japanese and the Koreans had, and still have, similarities in their societies’ gender bias. The problem is highly attributed to the patriarchal system of the families in the two societies. Civilization has brought about changes in the way women are viewed in the society through introduction of laws advocating for gender equality, but these laws are yet to be implemented effectively. Consequently, high level of gender bias still haunts these societies to date. Work cited Dore, Ronald. Shinohata: A Portrait of a Japanese Village. Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 1994. Janelli, Roger & Janelli, Yim Dawnhee. Ancestor Worship and Korean Society. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1982. Kim, Seung-Kyung. Class Struggle or Family Struggle? L The Lives of Women Factory Workers in South Korea. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Turner, Christena. Japanese Workers in Protest: An Ethnography of Consciousness and experience. Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 1995. Read More