South Korea’s battle of the sexes intensifies over new bill urging quotas of female MPs
- Proposal has angered some men, who complain of ‘reverse sexism’ and suggest women should also be required to complete national service
A group of South Korean lawmakers’ proposed bill for half of elected seats in parliament to be reserved for women has prompted backlash from younger men alleging “reverse sexism”.
Less than 20 per cent of the country’s 300 parliamentary seats are occupied by women while no woman is serving as a provincial governor or a major city mayor, according to Park Young-sun, the female lawmaker representing the group.
About 30 men in their 20s and 30s attended a debate on the bill in parliament on Wednesday, with one announcing: “We are victims of reverse sexism, after the older generation discriminated against women in the past.”
Online news websites and Facebook pages were inundated with angry posts echoing that sentiment.
“Good. We must also fill half of the military ranks with women,” one wrote on a local TV Facebook page.
Another asked: “Who would [be] responsible if unqualified candidates are elected just because they are women?”
Younger men in South Korea have complained about emerging feminism in deeply patriarchal South Korea, claiming they are losing out to women in the competition for jobs in a slowing economy. Official statistics show South Korean women doing better than men in state exams to choose government employees.
Many young men are barking up a wrong tree. They should direct their anger at the male establishment