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A to bE WomA n On a cold day in 2009, Sungshin University hosted an event they called “Happy Childbirth – Rich and Strong Future.” Designed to help young people un- derstand the breadth of Korea’s critically low birth- rate, and to grasp all the sticky issues therein, the conference was deemed a success until the organizers asked the female audience members for one simple promise: that they would eventually have children. This is much easier said than done. Even though childbearing embod- ies the biggest difference between men and women’s lives everywhere, in Korea, the disparities go beyond the limits of physiology. When the 2012 gender equality rankings surfaced from the World Economic Fo- rum, disbelief rippled through the population: Korea was listed 108th, well beneath countries where female genital mutilation still occurs and others where death by childbirth is a significant risk. It is incontrovertible that a woman’s life in Korea is governed by a system of values unique to this peninsula, and that some of these are making equality difficult to attain; it is with this in mind that we chose to explore these uncomfortable truths. We hope women in Korea, no matter who they are or where they come from, will be given a louder voice for the challenging journey ahead, and that the lack of silence will lead to a com- promise between men, women, work, family and everything in between.
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