Question Time:

I get a lot of email questions, and I want to take a moment to address this one publicly because it has questions I've been wanting to cover in my blog anyway.


"Ok, so now I have a few questions for you... Do most Korean moms work? If they do work, do they tend to work shorter hours than dads? Are women as educated as men? If they don't work, are girls expected to take all the extra classes too? I've always been curious as to the cultural differences dealing with feminism. Heck there's even a huge difference being an army wife, than a "civilian"
Do the kids that go to college and get degrees, get jobs that pay well? How is the Korean pay compared to American pay?

Thanks,

Amy"


My reply:

"Women typically go to college here and work until they have their first baby. I have 3 or 4 kids who have a working mother, and their hours aren't quite as long as the dads (some dads work 100 hours a week)... but they are still long hours. Girls take just as many extra classes as men because they need them to get into college. Dating and courtship is rather picky here, so I imagine a girl needs a college education to "land" a guy with a high paying job.

Normally the parents of the mom or dad (rarely both) will move in to the home when the mother has a baby or by the time they are 5 or 6 to be taken care of and help the mother run the household. The majority of my students have Grandparents living in their house. A womans job here is to make sure her husband is "Taken care of" in all ways, and make sure the kids are doing homework. Kids here have no responsibility other than going to 12+ hours of school a day and all the homework accompanying that.

It's a really interesting culture, some things I love, some I hate. There is a LOT of spousal and child abuse here, which is considered a "family matter." There are no social programs for the poor, disabled, or women who are being abused. The government/law officials don't get involved. There is a high level of family obligation here, and a VERY high rate of suicide in result of failing your family. They block off common suicide areas, but people find new ones. It's crazy.

I'm not sure about average salary... but my friends boyfriend just went through a FOUR MONTH application process for one of the biggest companies here in Korea. He will make 35k I believe. 1500 people applied, only 27 were hired. 4 of the 27 were fired the first week. Getting a job here is NOTHING like getting a job in US.... they only hire in one season (around college graduation) so if you don't get a job then you have to take more college classes and wait for the next year to start applying again. Parents pay for college here, not the students... so they are anxious for their children to get a job to start helping them financially.

The job may not pay well, but the cost of living is relatively cheap EXCEPT for deposits on apartments. One of my students lives in a building called Star City and the DEPOSIT alone on his apartment was 1.2 MILLION DOLLARS! That's not to buy... just rent!! The rent is probably a few thousand a month on top of that. That is a higher end apartment, but the average apartment deposit (for lets say a small 2 bedroom apartment) is well over $50,000 dollars. This is why people live at home with their parents until they get married! One of my co-workers was just married and his wife moved in with him at his parents house until they can afford a deposit on an apartment.

There is your taste of Korean culture for the day! "