Credit: Public domain.
According to the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family’s 여성가족부 recently released 2023 Survey on Family Conditions 가족실태조사, there has been a significant resurgence of stereotypical views on gender roles since 2020. In 2020, 22.4% of respondents agreed with the statement that “Men should be the main economic provider for the family,” a view endorsed by 33.6% of respondents in 2023.
Among 2023 respondents, 18.9% agreed with the statement that “Men should be the main decision maker for the family,” a sharp increase from 9.8% in 2020, while the proportion of respondents agreeing with the statements “Women should be the main homemaker” and “Women should be the main caretakers of children and the elderly” rose from 12.7% to 26.4% and 12.3% to 21.5%, respectively, over the same period.
The resurgence is consistent with the rise of toxic misogyny among young South Korean men, and the increased support for the retrograde views appears to be attributable to the increase in respondents under 30. (The survey did not break down the respondents by gender.)