South Korea Ranks Among Worst in Asia for Women’s Rights
Allegations of sexual harassment and abuse that have emerged after a former mayor of Seoul was found dead last month in an apparent suicide have forced a new reckoning with the legacy of South Korea’s #MeToo movement.
During the past two years, several powerful men have been dethroned or jailed following claims of sexual harassment or abuse. Yet, women’s advocates say little has changed in a male-dominated work culture that makes it hard for women to advance—and in the worst instances, helps enable sexual harassment.
Female legislators, senior officials and managers make up less than 10% of the South Korean workforce, the 12th lowest out of 153 countries surveyed in 2019 by the World Economic Forum. Women, on average, make one-third less than their male peers, the largest gap out of the 37 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development member states.
“We are so behind. There are almost no women holding important, decision-making posts,” said Jung Choun Sook, a ruling party lawmaker who spent more than two decades working for a Seoul-based hotline center for sexual violence victims.