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Groove readers’ opinions and feedback Letter to the editor If I earned a dollar every time I heard someone say “it’s because you’re a girl/woman,” I’d have a sizable investment to put to- wards sending myself to the moon. Even my mom used that “reasoning” at times, which helped me realize that women are not the only victims of gender inequality. For the first time in my life, I put myself in my brother’s shoes. My brother and I are only one year apart in age, so we don’t get the usual “because you are the older/younger one” discrimina- tion. Nevertheless, we are treated differently simply because he is a male and I am a female. While my parents expect my broth- er to be independent, strong (both physically and mentally) and unyielding, they expect me to be obedient, selfless and discreet. From what I have seen, Korean society imposes very similar ste- reotypical gender roles. Being a very stubborn, self-reliant person, I have refused to con- form, and I am not the only one; many women are also pushing back from these expectations. According to a recent study by Imlyang Ryu (Seoul National University), the employment rate of women rose from 42.8 percent to 50 percent between 1980 and 2008, and there are more women dropping their careers/ jobs in their late 30s than their late 20s. This shows that women are increasingly postponing marriage in order to pursue a career. Evidently, women are gaining more power and reaching out for gender equality. Despite the prolonged fuss about gender equality, our steps to- ward equality focus excessively on women’s rights: What about the disadvantages of being male? A quick look at popular media can show us what the idealized version of “true men” are. In most Korean families, men are expected to support the fam- ily while still occasionally helping with household chores. Corre- spondingly, many Korean dramas characterize the male protag- onist as nearly perfect, which in this case means being able to bring wealth to the family, complete household chores flawlessly and have enough leisure time to practice hobbies, maintain their health and spend a lot of time bonding with their children. In contrast to some of the TV shows featuring the “perfect male protagonist” is a parallel concept: female characters that are independent and bold, yet are always accompanied by a male protagonist who is there to protect her. The reflection of societal values seen in television, I argue, results in the unrealistically high expectations Koreans have for men, which were already pretty high to begin with. And yet these same women complain about not being treated equally. When people talk about gender inequality, they usually refer to the unfavorable status of women. But people fail to see that when they limit women’s rights by saying “because you are a female,” they are also setting standards for men. Gender equality means treating both genders equally. We need to consider and make an effort to understand the experiences of each gender. By Yuna Lee T h E I N B o X