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Feeling there’s no way out, many young South Korean women are taking their lives. This is one of the most important stories out of South Korea this year. I’ve summarized the interviews but please watch the report https://twitter.com/josungkim/status/1327858533770035200
From January to August this year, over 1/3 of all suicide attempts in South Korea were made by women in their 20s. Compared to last year, suicide deaths among this group jumped 40 percent
The number of girls and young women dying by suicide has been increasing in South Korea and the rate has been growing faster than any other demographic, even before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic
Professor Jang Sook-rang who has been studying this phenomenon says suicides among young women will become South Korea’s biggest crisis in the future, however, there is little attention being paid to it
According to the report, one of the biggest reasons young women are resorting to suicide is because they aren’t valued in South Korean society. This is displayed in the labor market, where women are not recognized as “equal members”
In March this year 120,000 women in their 20s lost their jobs yet the story barely made headlines. Researcher Lim Yun-ok says, “The way our society stays silent is very patriarchal.”
Further, young women in South Korea feel the discrimination more heavily in their daily lives. However, they are forced to internalize such problems as individual struggles—even though they are fundamentally societal issues
On the report, one woman commented, “A job is a job, but in [South Korea’s] patriarchal society, misogynistic culture and discrimination is a learned helplessness that accumulates from childhood.”
To help reduce the increasing suicide rate, researchers say there needs to be a fundamental shift for South Korea to respect women as contributing members and individuals of society, not just the auxiliary workforce or “women at home”
