The Harsh Reality Of Being a Woman in South Korea

Kim Ji-young is the most common name for Korean women born in the 1980s.

Kim Ji-young is representative of her generation:

At home, she is an unfavoured sister to her princeling little brother.

In primary school, she is a girl who has to line up behind the boys at lunchtime.

In high school, she is a daughter whose father blames her for being harassed late at night.

In university, she is a good student who doesn’t get put forward for internships by her professor.

In the office, she is an exemplary employee who is overlooked for promotion by her manager.

At home, she is a wife who has given up her career to take care of her husband and her baby.

Kim Ji-young is depressed.

Kim Ji-young has started acting out.

Kim Ji-young is her own woman.

Kim Ji-young is insane.

Kim Ji-young is sent by her husband to a psychiatrist.

This is his clinical assessment of the everywoman in contemporary Korea.

I found this book through Jack Edwards's Youtube video.

In this video, Jack describes it as “an illuminating insight into the experience of being a woman in South Korea but also in the world as a whole and the endemic of misogyny which can slowly wear someone down and drive them a bit insane.”

After hearing that, I had to read it.

And I did. And it made me feel even more disappointed and angry than ever before.

Although I’m a woman, and there was nothing in the book that was new or surprising to me, I still felt very disappointed with humanity.

It’s crazy to me that humans have existed for 6 million years and we still struggle with living peacefully and harmoniously in this world.

The way the story is told, we see this character grow and find her place in a world that seems to be against her. In a world where women are excluded, paid less, and judged for every single thing they do. But she finds a way to get a job doing something she enjoys just to have to give it up after getting pregnant.

The main thing that stuck to me in this book is how women can’t win.

You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.

She was forced to quit her job and stay at home taking care of her daughter, not only financially, but also by the pressure of societal norms. All for her to still be criticised and be called a “mom roach” for “spending her husband’s money”.

We see this character go through all of this. We see her having no control over her life and we’re left feeling nothing but compassion and anger.

This book had a great impact on me, especially on how I see my life.

I’m not saying that me or any other women nowadays don’t face any of these struggles. But as a white woman living in the western world, I have a lot of privileges that I hadn’t realized.

Before reading this book, I would think about these issues as something from the past. Something that my ancestors went through. But the thing is, there are still a lot of women in the world that are facing these issues and although Kim Ji-young lived in a different country, she is younger than my mom.

Reading about Kim Jiyoung’s struggles to get a job that accepted women and that paid them and treated them with respect, while I was walking to work, made me appreciate what I have.

I’m having this opportunity that so many women dreamt about or even still dream about. So I better be grateful for it and not take it for granted.

Final Thoughts

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 is the depiction of the struggles that women face in this world.

With Kim Ji-young being the most common name for Korean women born in the 1980s, this character represents a whole generation of Korean women.

However, women all over the world can relate and empathize with this character and all that she goes through, which is why this book is amazing.

Everyone should read this book, especially misogynists and people that still don’t understand why women keep “complaining” and wanting equality.

If you’re interested in reading this book, get it here.

Let me know in the comments if you’ve read this book and what you think of it. Did you enjoy it?

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