"73% of Women in Their 20s and 29% of Men in Their 20s Say 'Society is Unequal to Women'"

Ministry of Gender Equality Announces '2021 Gender Equality Survey Results'
Largest Perception Gap on Gender Inequality Among People in Their 20s
Stereotypes About Gender Roles Decreased Compared to 5 Years Ago
Care Burden Still Falls Heavily on Women... Working Women Twice as Much
Men More Aware of Hiring Gender Discrimination and Gender-Based Job Segregation

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] While younger age groups show stronger awareness of gender equality, the perception that society is unequal to women shows the largest gap between men and women in their 20s.

On the 19th, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family announced the results of the "2021 Gender Equality Survey." This survey was conducted from September to October last year, targeting 8,358 household members aged 15 and older from 4,490 households nationwide. The Gender Equality Survey is conducted every five years in accordance with the Gender Equality Act.

'Unequal to Women' 73% of Women in Their 20s vs. 29% of Men in Their 20s

65.4% of women and 41.4% of men responded that "society is unequal to women." The percentage who answered "unequal to men" was 6.7% for women and 17.0% for men. Compared to five years ago, the perception that men and women are equal increased by 13.7 percentage points from 21.0% to 34.7%, and the response that society is unequal to women decreased by 9.2 percentage points from 62.6% to 53.4%. The response that society is unequal to men decreased from 16.4% to 11.8%.

However, the gender perception gap in the 20s is distinct. 73.4% of women in their 20s believe that "Korean society is unequal to women," while only 29.2% of men agreed. Women in their 30s showed the highest rate at 76.8%, and 60.3% of women aged 15-18 responded that society is unequal. Meanwhile, 40.7% of men in their 30s and 31.5% of men aged 15-18 answered that society is unequal to women.

Researcher Ma Kyung-hee of the Korean Women's Development Institute explained, "The point where men in their early 20s feel the most inequality is the military issue. At that time, women are graduating from university and preparing for employment, which is a life cycle characteristic, and awareness of inequality improvement has increased significantly over the past five years."

She added, "Adolescents aged 15-18 had relatively less perception that society is unequal to men. Providing many opportunities for the younger generation to empathize with the value of gender equality is a solution to address this issue moving forward."

Reduction in Gender Role Stereotypes... Stronger with Increasing Age

Stereotypes about gender roles, such as role sharing within the family and gender-based job segregation, have also decreased. However, the perception that men should bear the financial burden and gender stereotypes about occupations remain strong among older age groups.

The percentage agreeing with the perception that "men should primarily be responsible for the family's livelihood" decreased by 12.2 percentage points from 42.1% in 2016 to 29.9% in 2021. The perception that women are responsible for child care even when working decreased significantly by 36.4 percentage points from 53.8% to 17.4%.

The perception that men bear the financial responsibility was higher among men aged 60 and over (47.5%) and women aged 60 and over (40.0%), and lower among men in their 20s (17.5%) and women in their 20s (9.6%).

The percentage who think that occupations dominated by men, such as soldiers and police officers, are unsuitable for women decreased from 44.7% to 18.3%. The perception that occupations dominated by women, such as nurses and childcare teachers, are unsuitable for men decreased from 46.5% to 15.2%.

The percentage who think "men feel uncomfortable working under women" decreased from 30.4% to 23.5%. It was highest among men (44.6%) and women (46.4%) aged 60 and over, and lowest among men (9.0%) and women (4.4%) in their 20s.

Care Burden Concentrated on Women... Men Perceive More Gender Discrimination in Hiring

Women still bear more of the burden of housework and caregiving. Although awareness has improved, the reality is that these responsibilities are still assigned to women. The perception that "women have the primary responsibility for child care" decreased from 53.8% in 2016 to 17.4% last year.

In reality, 68.9% responded that housework and caregiving are entirely or mainly done by the wife. Among dual-income couples, 65.5% of women and 59.1% of men answered that the wife mainly takes on these responsibilities. Regarding household expenses, 58.1% responded that the husband entirely or mainly bears the cost.

In dual-income families, the daily caregiving time for women (1.4 hours) is twice that of men (0.7 hours). In households with children aged 12 or younger, women's weekday caregiving time is 3.7 hours, more than three times that of men (1.2 hours).

Gender discrimination practices in hiring, job assignment, and promotion have also slightly eased. However, men perceive gender discrimination more strongly than women. Regarding "gender discrimination in employee hiring" and "gender-based job segregation," 45.6% and 46.1% of men respectively answered affirmatively.

The percentage who answered that their current company prefers men when hiring was 33.9%, and 39.0% said that men and women have separate job duties. The response that there is an implicit limit on women being promoted to certain ranks or positions was 24.5%. These figures decreased by 4.8, 10.4, and 5.1 percentage points respectively compared to five years ago.

'Serious Female Violence' Increased Compared to Five Years Ago

The percentage who answered that "various forms of violence against women in Korean society are serious" was 85.7%, up from 82.1% five years ago. It reached 92.1% among women and 79.3% among men. This increase is attributed to heightened awareness following the Me Too movement and the Nth Room incident.

72.8% of women responded that they are "anxious about personal information being leaked online or used for crimes." Anxiety was particularly high among women in their 20s to 40s, reaching the 80% range, and among men in their 30s to 50s, reaching 70%.

The top gender inequality issue to be addressed first was career interruption (28.4%). This was followed by employment discrimination (27.7%), violence against women (14.4%), and low participation of men in housework and caregiving (12.5%). In multiple responses, 69.2% selected "women's career interruption," and 61.1% selected "employment discrimination."

Awareness of online gender hate, attacks, and sexual objectification of women was higher among younger age groups. Notably, 48.0% of men in their 20s answered that "online gender hate and attacks" need to be resolved.

Based on these survey results, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family plans to establish the "3rd Basic Plan for Gender Equality Policy (2023-2027)."

Minister Jeong Young-ae of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said, "The improvement in gender equality awareness in our society, the spread of work-life balance culture, and increased sensitivity to violence are positive signs toward a gender-equal society. However, it is now time for more active and consistent policy efforts that can promote the realization of a gender-equal society, such as accelerating the resolution of women's career interruption and caregiving burdens, and addressing issues of digital sexual crimes and violence against women."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.