Yonsei Korea

In the article "Women as Other," Beauvoir states the reasons that woman has been always the "Other." According to her article. women have accepted the roles as the "Other" because women do not possess "a concrete means to organize themselves as a unit", because women thinks the bondage between men and women is necessary "regardless of reciprocity", and because women have performed her role as the "Other" with their pleasure (Beauvoir 338-339). These three reasons are valid for why Korean working women is still the "Other" in the new millenium. Korean working women suffers from unfair treatment based on Confucianism, but they do not protest but compromise with "reciprocal need."

Korean men have oppressed Korean working women through distorted Confucianism. Beauvoir states men and women "are united by a reciprocal need," but the unity works "in the favor of the oppressor" (Beauvoir 338), and "against the oppressed" (Beauvoir 338). I think the "reciprocal need" nooses Korean working women even more than Beauvior says. Since Confucian cosmology, based on the yin-yang model, is rooted in gender differentiation, Korean men from the old generation could assign tasks to people by gender, These men think men and women are totally different according to Confucian cosmology. "Woman as Other" is universal, but Korean situation is more serious because Korean male chauvinists justify their discrimination with confucianism.

Korean Confucianism has been a powerful means to rule the country and maintain society from Chosun Dynasty to President Park in 1960's-1970's. President Park and his political supporters had emphasized the Confucian concept of "three bonds" (samgang in Korean) which confers privileges to the king, father and husband, and used the idea to support their tyrannic ruling. They compared themselves to a father, and whole society to a patriarchal family. The pervasive concept of the feudal family has justified men's discrimination towards women in Korea.

Korean working women know the male centered society is unfair, but most of them adapt themselves to these crooked circumstances to survive. Korean companies such as Nongshim, Hanhwa, Sampyo hire only men and unmarried women. They fire a woman when she gets married because they think married woman should take care of her husband and babies. Sometimes companies fill the mandatory female employ quota by hiring highschool graduates. In order to be hired, female university graduates ofen sign a paper agreeing that the company will only pay them the same salary as the highschool graduates. Female workers do not protest company because of the whole society's complicity in this discrimination. Female workers have align themselves with society. As the slave's need can be filled by his master (Beauvoir 338), working woman compromises with this unfair reality because she needs a job.

In “Woman as Other” from The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir states that woman has always been the “Other” (de Beauvoir 336). It means that woman has been subordinated to man and regarded as just a dependent on man and a relative being to him - she does not have her own identity. She has been also considered as wrong and negative. However, Beauvoir does not blame this discriminatory situation on man; rather she points out that it remains because women fail to change it (de Beauvoir 336). Considering women in Korea, I agree with Beauvoir that woman has always been the “Other.” However, I believe that women cannot be blamed for the unfairness. In fact, they have made continual efforts to change it and gain their authentic beings.

In Korea, women are the “Other.” At home, woman cannot speak her own voice but is forced to play her feminine roles as a wife and a mother. She should spend most of time merely on housework and in looking after children. If woman tries to be involved in “major” family affairs such as children's marriages and education, people criticize her, saying “when the hen crows, the house goes to ruin.” She is just the person who should help her husband maintain “his” family rather than an independent member of the family. In social life, women are also the “Other.” Men consider women as emotional and inferior to them, and they dominate Korean society; therefore, women have less chance to get jobs or to be promoted in their jobs. What is worse, many companies still use appearance rather than ability as standards to hire when it comes to female applicants. I heard from my friend who works at a big company, Samsung that if there are two female applicants - one with better appearance and less intelligence and the other with worse appearance and better intelligence - the company would hire the first unless she is unable to deal with the job concerning. That is because the company, actually the male executives believe that the first makes more pleasant atmosphere in the office filled with men than the second. In deed, Korean woman still remains as a relative existence at home and in society.

However, we cannot blame women for this sex discrimination in society because it has nothing to do with women's fault. If women had dominated society or had been treated equal to men once, then we can blame women for the current inequitable situation. That is because women have their responsibilities for keeping their existence as the “Subject,” and it is women themselves who lost out to men. Throughout history, however, women have always been subordinated to men. Since human beings began to organize communities for better life in the past, men have dominated the communities because they were physically stronger than women, and they have created social structures in favor of themselves. Thus, inevitably women have been subordinated to men all the time. Consequently, the unjust situation is not women's fault.

Beauvoir says that women's effort to abolish this unfair condition has been nothing but a symbolic agitation (de Beauvoir 336). However, many Korean women have made a lot of efforts and indeed brought about some changes. Before 90's, sexual harassment spread out over Korea. In particular, many working women had experienced some form of sexual harassment in their workplaces. Men looked down on women and humiliated them with physical and verbal harassment. Women, however, were not passive; they tried to make sexual harassment the social issue. As a result, the law that prohibits sexual harassment has been enacted and enforced. In addition, more and more women participate in politics and NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) movements to eliminate the discrimination in society. For example, many congresswomen and women in NGOs are protesting against “Hojuje”- a family registry system in which a headship of a family lies only in man. Under “Hojuje”, if a father in a certain family dies, his first male child takes over his position as the head in the family registry no matter what his age. What is worse, a remarried woman has to be registered in his new husband's family registry, but she cannot put the children between her and her ex-husband's in her new family registry; whereas, a remarried man “freely” put the children between his and his ex-wife in his “not changed” family registry. Recognizing this unfairness in “Hojuje”, women dispute it and try to abolish it. With their effort, it is expected among people that the “Hojuje” will be changed or abolished soon.

In Korea, women still have been regarded as relative beings to men, the “Other.” However, they have tried to eliminate the discriminatory condition and brought about changes in many fields. Men and women are definitely different, but it does not mean that men are superior to women or that women should be dependent on men. Men should realize it and respect women as human beings equal to them. For women, they have to keep trying to change the discrimination against them and to be an authentic being, not a relative being to men.

According to the article "Women as Other" written by Simon de Beauvoir, women have been always regarded as "the Other." I agree with this observation that the author states "He is the Subject, he is the Absolute- she is the Other."(p334) There is this conception in Korea as well. I'll focus on the discriminations women receive by men in Korea. Korean women suffer from inequality throughout their lives from young to old.

Korean girls are encouraged to be lady-like. In other words, they are sked to be quiet, obedient and dependent. Therefore, they are made to wear pink ribbon dresses, given dolls and books. When they enter the school, they must wear skirt uniforms. In addition, they are encouraged to study literature or language and to learn cooking or sewing.

Korean women have difficulties in the society. When the girls become adults, they have much more disadvantages. Women face hardship getting jobs because most firms prefer men to women. Although a woman has good abilities and diplomas, it is harder for her to enter the firm than for a man. Even though women can get jobs, they always about quitting their jobs because their marriages, pregnancy and baby caring. Most companies neglect to show any concern nor provide help for the women about these problems.

Korean mothers are victimized at almost time. Women regarded as "the Other" not only in the public sphere but also at home. Although mothers and wives are burdened with heavy housework, they can't reward for their contribution at all. Because of heavy works at home, they can't accomplish what they want to do. In other words, many women can't have any jobs but be housewives. They spend most of their time cleaning, washing, cooking and caring for the children.

Korean women face discriminations from young to old just because they aren't men not women. Simon de Beauvoir states that in her article "Women as Other"- "Women have always been subordinated to men."(p336) As her statement, this ill-considered conception between men and women still perpetuates. For these reasons, Korean women are prevented from achieving their goals and realizing their potential.

After reading Simone de Beauvoir's essay “Woman as Other,” I had an impression that woman has always been subordinated to man and has been regarded as “the Other” while man represents “the Subject.” It is not quite different from the referred condition in the essay that Korean women are still treated as subordinate beings although the right of woman has improved since the times when de Beauvoir wrote the essay. Daughters are given less notice than sons as it used to be, women students are suffering from unreasonable prejudice by college societies and female applicants are in a more difficult situation to get jobs than male. Korean women have grown together with disregard for their independent rights as daughters, students and employees.

Korean woman is often expected to bear her secondary position since she was born. Still dominated by the patriarchal system, Korean society maintains that the ideal woman is self-sacrificing, obedient and devoted to her family. She was taught that woman might not try to win over man and to assist her husband gently is the best admirable virtue of a woman. The girl who has much interest in political, economic or social fields is even blamed by parents and friends because the interest like hers is considered as a “masculine” field of study in Korean society. After the marriage, women are annoyed by various household duties and feeding her children. Even though his wife is the woman who took a doctor's degree, husband hopes her to remain a housekeeper - the secondary being. It causes not only individual loss in ability but also serious loss of national human power.

In colleges, women are still the object, not the subject, in the enjoyment and exercise of their rights. There are much less female restrooms than male restrooms in colleges and woman cannot buy a hygienic band easily when she needs it. Sexual harassments by professors occur so often that it is no longer few and far between in universities while male students are mostly indifferent to it. In addition, the woman who tries to study hard and take a good grade is often the target of male students' unreasonable blame although her trial is not an abnormal behavior at all if a “man” is doing it. Even some thoughtless professors used to joke that women do not have to study, but just have to be pretty. Furthermore, inferior male students dislike the female colleagues who insist their natural rights and sometimes make baseless rumors like “A smart woman is always an ugly woman.” Hence, female students have to concentrate on fighting for their rights independently as well as on accomplishing their academic goals.

Women employees are also dealt as insignificant figures in Korean companies. Female applicants have to beat the competitions with conventional prejudice when they try to get their job after graduation. Although the women applicants are educated in the same universities as men and many of them can speak several languages and know how to operate businesses, it is still hard for them to get employed. Women who won their jobs in the fierce unemployment situations of Korea are usually making coffee for their seniors and doing simple office chores like photocopying and cleaning desks only because they are women. In addition, female personnel are omitted mostly in promotion to the staffs or executive officers since there is much prejudice toward female officers around Korean business communities. There are, moreover, also lots of sexual harassments in the office rooms by male seniors mainly. Women in companies are surely “the Other” while men are “the Absolute.”

As mentioned above, Korean women are appeared as figures excluded from the fundamental rights in the androcentric society. They are suffering from sexual prejudice at homes, schools and companies even while men have little understanding of their situations. In order to stand alone as “the Subject,” women must not only overcome the present situation by themselves but also be prepared to refuse all the advantages that they have held before. Recently, Korean governments endeavor to eliminate unreasonable treatments toward women by newly establishing the Ministry of Gender Equality. Women's own effort, however, is needed definitely at the back to achieve the complete recovery of “reciprocity” between both genders.

Nobody can live without society, and society can't exist without an individual. Social system and circumstances affect each individual's way of living and thinking, and members of society affect society by changing social system or protesting wrong policies. Therefore, when we try to understand individual's standing or status, we should consider the society that the individual belongs to. In the essay, "Woman as Other," Simone de Beauvoir says that "If woman seems to be the inessential which never becomes the essential, it is because she herself fails to bring about this change"(de Beauvoir 336). However, considering woman as a member of society, I think the reason why woman fails to be the essential is not her own fault but the social system.

The patriarchy in Choson Dynasty, ancient Korea from 1392 to 1910, prevented women in Choson from being subjective. Choson Dynasty is a Confucian society, the most valuable things of Confucian society are to perform a sacrificial rite and to take over standing of own family. The patriarchy consists of one absolute head and other members below him, and the absolute head has an initiative to decide and perform all housework affairs. The oldest person of a family becomes a head and only man can acquire this position, and woman's duty is only to give birth to boys. Also, the patriarchy has strict hierarchy. Woman is always below man and her acting area is limited to house dominated by man. Woman can't escape man's influence and she doesn't have any chance to show her gift even though she has prominent abilities. The patriarchy prevailing throughout the country made women remain obedient to man.

The family-head system also made woman an inessential being. The family-head system is that law regulates family-head's qualification and authority officially. The problem of this system is that the order of succession makes favor for men. Regardless of age or contribution to a family, the order is like this, son, daughter, wife, mother and daughter-in-law. In other words, a six-year-old son can have right to own the whole family even though there are mother and grandmother who can lead family better than the young boy. This system makes people think son who will succeed to family-head is more important than daughter. This leads people who have a baby to examine if their baby is son or not. If their baby is daughter, people often have an abortion. This causes serious unbalance between men and women and woman's human right is totally ignored. The family-head system which guarantees man's initiative legally makes people think that women are inferior to man. As a result, woman remains an inessential person.

When we evaluate individual's standing or status, we should consider the circumstances around the individual. The patriarchy and the family-head system are designed for men's profit and make people think unequality of men and women is reasonable. Under these two systems, women couldn't escape the influence of the social system and couldn't but remain an unessential being. In the essay, "Woman as Other," Simone de Beauvoir says that "if woman seems to be the inessential which never becomes the essential, it is because she herself fails to bring about this change"(de Beauvoir 336). However, I think social system makes women fail to be the essential.

In her essay, "Woman as Other," Simone de Beauvoir says that "throughout history they (women) have always been subordinated to men" and "if woman seems to be the inessential which never becomes the essential, it is because she herself fails to bring about this change" (de Beauvoir 336). Compared with western societies, Korea has had more conservative point of view about women, because Korea has been under the patriarchy system stressed in a confucian society. Korean women have been subject to men under the conservative confucian tradition, but they should stand alone as an independent being through self-illumination.

Korean women were people who had unlimited patience. Women were obedient and passive beings who were forbidden to express their own thoughts in public. When a husband involved with another woman, a wife could not complain about that matter openly. Even worse, a wife was responsible for her husband's secret love affairs. People used to say that the woman must not have performed her duties as a wife sincerely, so the husband got to seek for another woman. When a married couple walked on the street, a woman must not walk with him side by side. A wife had to follow him a few steps apart.

Generally, women's field of action was home in Korea like in other societies. In past, Korean teenage girls did not go to village schools which were similar to present schools. Instead, they had to learn household affairs at home. Maidens of yangban family, a kind of nobility, could write and read Chinese characters, but it was nothing but a cultural education. It was natural that women could not have lots of opportunities to act socially in that society, so many talented women had to stayed at home. Shin Saimdang was well known as a good wife and wise mother. Even though she was really good at calligraphy, drawings and writing shijos (three-verse Korean poems), she was known not as an artist but as a desirable mother and wife.

However, situations are changing and women's position in Korean society is going up. More and more women are beginning to work in multifarious fields actively. Therefore, the number of female politicians, writers, CEOs (Chief Executive Officer) is increasing in a rapid speed. Women should have footholds to lead this change. In her book A Room of One's Own, Virginia Woolf, famous female writer in 20th century, stresses on "money" and "a room of one's own." "Money" represents material footholds and "a room of one's own" represents intellectual freedom. Women need both of them to be reborn successfully as an independent individual.

To my disappointment, Korean women are still suffering from prejudices and discriminations imposed on them. In order to break through these problems, women always try to develop their abilities and secure the subjectivity their own. In other words, women should solidify their economic basis, positions and identity. Women, awake, think, and act, and then you will find the way! You can bring the change and you can stand on the center of the society like men.

Simone de Beauvoir states that women have been the "Other" because of their long-term dependency on men and lack of reciprocity between themselves. I agree with this idea, but I don't agree with her that men just have always enjoyed their privileges. In fact, man is also a victim like woman, because they are forced to follow social system or custom such as patriarchy, which will be referred below. In this essay, I shall explain the reason why man is a victim by observing Korean society.

Beauvoir insists that "the present enshrines the past - and in the past all history has been made by men." It means that man has established a lot of system, custom or tradition, which can protect his privileges from woman. Patriarchy is one of those systems and it implies blind obedience of woman to man. Many Korean men use patriarchy as a shield, and stick to oppress women. A notion of preferring a son to a daughter or system of succession to the headship of a house is a typical example of patriarchy. Purpose of them is to preserve man's vested rights. Man may think that patriarchy is man's effective instrument to protect his social position.

Man doesn't realize, though, patriarchy oppresses himself. It forced man to play a fixed role in patriarchal society like woman does. Man always has to plays a right, strong, able man, if he is not. It brings them a bad effect. Take an example. In late 1990's Korean economy was under management of International Money Fund (IMF). Then many men were dismissed from their works. At that time some dismissed men killed themselves not overcoming the shock. They could not bear the fact that now they had no authority and no social position. They are victims of patriarchy forced to stereotyped role.

Beauvoir insists that man “enjoy a traditional prestige.” It surely is true, but man also is oppressed by his prestige in Korea. The reason is simple; patriarchy does not assume reciprocity between man and woman. Social system has to be good for everyone. If not, It doesn't work any more. Thus many Korean men still stick to patriarchy, and enjoy their prestige, but such behavior only lead them to misery.

Simone De Beauvoir is one of the most famous feminist and existentialist in the world. She has much interest on woman's condition at the same period. In her famous writing “Woman as Other,” from The Second Sex, she represents that the woman is absolutely “Other” and it is from the “natural condition.” Beauvoir has a correct understanding of woman's otherness. The Korean society could not have exception for this recognition, as well. Woman is “Other” in various ways in Korean society, especially in political aspect, social relationships and even family. In this article, I will prove that woman's situation of otherness in Korea by examples and descriptions.

Woman is political “Other” in Korean society. There are few women politicians in Korea. According to one of the OECD report in 2000, Korea is ranked the lowest position about the number of women politicians. In addition, women government officials are very rare in Korea. The Korean government establishes the allocation law for women who want to become bureaucrat. It can be counter-evidence how few women goes into important political decision making process. Those actual conditions are from the stereotype that man is superior to woman and also caused by exclusion of woman's participation in man-dominate politic. Needless to say, these perceptions are based on a deep-rooted otherness of woman.

Besides, woman is “Other” on social relationships in Korean society. Women recognize their otherness on relations or, friendships between man and woman. I have many male friends, and I am so close to them, usually. However, as soon as they start stories between man and man, or something to talk about the man-only world, like army service, sex from only man's point of view, I fall down to “the Other.” At that moment, there is no room for me to take part in. Moreover, when I attend a meeting or party, I sometimes heard man old-timer says that “What's up? Here is no girl, send a few girls to this side.” At that very instant, women turns over ornament, which cheer men up. Women are pushed out to “the Other.”

Woman is “Other” in family, too. In Korea, the situations that women are regarded as “Other” among family members, are not unusual facts. Korean society has peculiar law about who can be the master of house. As the householder law, women never be household-head, however make a much money she may be able to, however hard she may work, however years she may have. Furthermore, women are sometimes regarded into “son maker.” A few days ago, The Jo-Sun newspaper carried account of the event, which verified this. According to the paper, one woman sued for divorce because her mother-in-law excessively oppressed her to give birth to only son and ignored her personality. She was pregnant four times for four years, but all of them were daughters. Her mother-in-law kept up putting pressure on her to bear new baby to have son who will succeed to family line. Her mother-in-law also hired another woman who would sex with her son and make a son for them. The answer is so simple about those matters. As the old Korean proverb goes, a married daughter is no better than a stranger(õóÊªèâìÑ). In otherwords, she is “The Woman,” and “The Woman” is “The Other.”

As above, Korean woman are political minority, and they are incidental beings to the social relationships. They are secondary things even at the family. To woman, it is not easy to escape from those circumstances. The reason is that “Other” concept to woman is as old as human history. Nevertheless, woman has right to be equal with man, because woman is also humankind. The woman's right to be equalized is neither what might be nor what could be. It is what should be, itself.

We may have been taught that only difference between men and women is not ability, but biological system. In reality, however, no one thinks that women have equal status to men. Although women are getting more opportunities for having a job than they had in the past, most of them still suffer from discrimination in society. Some feminists insist that the authorities should reform regulations concerning discrimination between sexes in order to improve women's position; however, in the article, “Women as Other,” Simone de Beauvoir notes that “if woman seems to be the inessential which never becomes the essential, it is because she herself fails to bring this change” ( De Beauvoir, p.336). I quite agree with Beauvoir's statement because through my

When I completed a course in SWELL, an intensive English program that is held biannually in Seoul Women's University in Korea this summer, I noticed that most women including me had hardly objected to men's decisions during the program. Female student were the absolute majority, since the program is held by women's university. In my class, there were only five men among twenty students. In addition, there were no discriminate regulations of normal society because only English skill was considered as the reasonable standard. Nonetheless, any female students didn't want to lead class. Eventually, five male students handled all the class activities. They came up with the main ideas for class presentation, controlled all the preparations for pop festival and played important roles in sports competition. Of course, female students proposed good ideas and advised to them, but it was male students that made final decision at the important moment.

I also recognized that overall, Korean women still remain passive and many want to become subordinated to men by means of marriage. De Beauvoir believes that “women do not authentically assume a subjective attitude”(De Beauvoir p.336). I totally sympathize with her opinion because I easily find that ground in every day campus life. In classes, most men voice their opinions with confidence, whereas women are ashamed of stating their opinions in front of others. Besides, most Korea women get married in their twenties, and they have little regard for improving own abilities. Several statistics report that “20% of Korea career women are willing to quit their jobs after marriage, and 15% say that they don't mind to give up their work rights after parturition” (Korean statistics,1998). It's true that there are many difficulties for married women to keep their jobs in Korea; however, it is more serious matter that some women don't even consider injustice of the situation and they are only interested in getting married and having children.

Although women rights activists insist that social restrictions such as custom, regulations prevent women from recovering their rights, I believe that the bigger problems come from women's false conception about their existence. Many women want to be more beautiful and slim. Some women are addicted to plastic surgery or have excessive interest in effective diets. It's a fact that women who fall behind in beauty gain disadvantages in many cases. If a woman wants to get a better job and capable husband, she is required to be beautiful by social standards. In addition, mass media shows only pretty women and they have fame and popularity. Women have no choice but to make themselves up in order to survive at the present age. Society and men may be responsible for these phenomena, but I think that women are also to blame. Many women tend to concentrate on improving their appearance and they don't pay much attention on their authentic values.

I noticed that female students allowed themselves to be the minority during the SWELL program, although they were in the superior circumstance to male students. They also have much less responsibility to class than male students at university. In addition, career women avoid facing their difficulties and they are reluctant to insist their rights. Rather, they obediently resign their status, then they enjoy doing house chores and bringing up children. I don't mean that women should reject all housework.

However, now I doubt that women are indeed doing what they want. They don't resist unjust demands of society. After women become entirely subordinated to men by marriage, they hardly pay attention on their identity and they are pleased with husband's success or children's growth. Before reading Beauvoir's article, I thought that discrimination between sexes came from only men's fault and women had no power to recover their positions or take an equal stand; however, now I consider that most women may justify their situation by blaming upon existing society without any active trials.

"Woman as Other" is an essay from the renowned The Second Sex (1952; Le Deuxieme Sexe, 1949) written by Simone De Beauvoir, the famous french existentialist philosopher. In this essay, she observes the discrimination against woman from the days of the Greek scholars to the present, and says that man is considered as the conventional being and woman as an abnormality, both physically and mentally. In this essay, Beauvoir stated that “throughout the history they (women) have always been subordinated to men, and hence their dependency is not the result of a historical event or a social change -it was not something that occurred.” (Beauvoir 336) This is not true, not only because there are historical proofs which contradict her statement, but also because a simpler answer exists to explain the long history of discrimination against women: Lack of physical strength compared to men is the prime reason for the women's submission to the men's rule in the past.

To begin with, women were not always subordinate to men; historical evidences and mythology prove otherwise. Many historians believe that matriarchy precedes patriarchy. Matriarchy literally means the system of a family, group or a nation run by women. Queens existed, as well. Queens would not think of themselves as the Other. Also, according to the Greek mythology, the Amazons, the woman warriors, are said to have existed and proved themselves to be a power not to be ignored. (Beauvoir failed to mention the Amazons, although she made her case through Greek mythology, which is rather strange.) Furthermore, Sappo, the female poet who was born around 615 B.C., was hailed as the “Divine Inspiration of the Muses” on N.E. Aegean island of Lesbos. She was respected by the both sexes for more than 500 years.

Beauvoir's statement has been disproved, but the question as to why women were degraded still remains unanswered. Why did the transition from matriarchy to patriarchy occur? Why did the mighty woman warriors, the Amazons, not last beyond the legend? Why were not there any other tribe or nation run by women? Moreover, even if the Amazons are only imaginary beings, their tales would have made the women think twice of their existence, but nothing ever came to pass. The queen would have noted the discrimination against the women, and her being one would have made her think of freeing women with her might. Nevertheless, discrimination against women lasted until the current times.

Men's superiority in physical strength to women is the key to this mystery of women being discriminated as the Other. Physical strength mattered more than mental power in the old days. In the days of the old, wars were fought with bare hands, rocks, swords, and etc, which all required great amount of physical strength, unlike today when a gun or a missile can be fired with a light press of the trigger. During peace time castles, great walls, and pyramids were built, which need no more explanation as to the necessity of human strength. Long time ago, almost all activities were physical in nature. And since women are physically weaker than men*, on average, they were thought to be less useful than men in almost all areas. Consequently, men thought themselves as superior and women complied, and this thought survived the millennia.

Thinking along this line, the transition of society from matriarchy to patriarchy can be explained. It is widely believed that matriarchy was instated because of importance of fecundity, but as birth rate stabilized, the utility of physical strength outweighed the importance of fecundity. Also, if Amazons are assumed to have existed, their disappearance is not a surprise, considering the fact that many weaker tribes and nations fell under the conquest from the stronger ones, mainly run by males. Further contemplation on the matter hints at the idea that Amazons may not be the only case of women ruled society. There may have been others but they were probably not big enough or did not last long enough to be recorded in history, due to the handicap of their constituents being physically weaker. The queen may have sympathized with her gender sharers, but she could not be blind to the fact that the times called for physical strength. Queen remained to be the only exception of her gender but did not call for substantial changes to the poor status of women. Women accepted because they acknowledged themselves to be physically weaker, even after hearing about the Amazons and witnessing the presence of the queen.

Beauvoir's argument that women were never the dominant ones and that the reason for their dependency is not one of “social change or historical events” has overlooked the historical facts proving otherwise. Women's dependency on men is the outcome of the fact that physical strength mattered more in the past and that women are physically weaker, on average. Today, however, almost all highly regarded activities demand mental acuteness. Women are in no way unequal, if not superior, in their mental power compared to men. Time is ripe for women to share the throne of dominance with men. One more thing to note is that women should be aware that past is women's as much as it is men's, although written history is dominated by men.

According to Simone de Beauvoir in the essay “Woman as Other,” woman is always dependent on man, does not try to enhance her social status, and just be content with the subordinate relation to man. This may be true for the women in those days when she wrote the essay. However, judging from the social status of Korean women and their active way of life nowadays, I can not agree with her statements in the essay that “woman have gained only what men have been willing to grant; they have taken nothing, they have only received.”(p.337) and “women lack concrete means for organizing themselves into a unit which can stand face to face with the correlative unit”(p.337). I do not think Korean women of today rely on only men as the women who are always dependent on men Beauvoir describes in her essay. These days I definitely see the rise in women's social status in Korea and I believe it has been realized in society due to their own efforts and movements economically, politically, and mentally.

First of all, Korean women can be independent from men economically now due to the spread of higher education to women in accompany with well paying jobs. Korean people once believed that woman does not need to study much but only should be prepared well as a good housekeeper to get married man who can support her. At the time people thought it should be only man that works outside and earns money for family but woman should stay at home and just take care of domestic affairs. This male-oriented idea, spontaneously or not, prevented women from getting a chance to have higher education and stable jobs in society. Accordingly, most Korean women could not achieve self-reliance economically for themselves, and so they had no choice but rely on men who can earn money to fill up their economic needs. However, as the rising generation appears in Korean society this unfair and old circumstances that women could not get higher education has disappeared gradually. Now in Koran college the number of women is almost as same as that of men and many Korean female graduates go into the numerous fields of job, which once dominated, by men. In there they find their way as a competent career woman and solve economic burden by themselves. After all, higher education lead Korean women to get the well-paying jobs that can support themselves in society, so they become independent from men economically. Simone de Beauvoir says that “women have taken nothing but only gained”(p.337), but it does not apply to Korean women these days; they choose to find their own way to support herself in their jobs through getting higher education.

Second, Korean women have organized their own units and worked in the important positions at government organizations or political parties: it has enhanced their social rights and status quite much than before. The Ministry of Gender Equality which was established recently in the government of Republic of Korea represents how Korean women have tried to improve their social status and also eliminate gender discrimination existing in Korean society. In there, female officials accept any complaints related to the status of women in society, plan social policies for it and make every effort to put them into effect. This fact clearly shows that Korean women have taken care of their problems not depending on men any more. In addition to this, Korean women have made many other social organizations by themselves to speak for their own interests and people also can find it easily that not a few women are working now as the central figures in political parties or government organizations in Korea. All of these improves that women in Korea does not “lack concrete means for organizing themselves”(p.337) any more as Simone de Beauvoir says in her essay.

Finally, Korean women have become aware of their reality that they were oppressed by men, so they have started struggling against it and changed negative attitude toward woman for themselves. It is true that Korean people, even women once regarded woman as only a subordinate being to man and she has to follow no matter what man orders in family. This negative attitude toward woman in family made women as “the Other” in society as Beauvoir says. However, Korean women started awakening themselves that they can have equal status to men if they try to change their negative conceptions toward woman and throw away passive way of life. Actually this have worked as the corner stone of the rise in women's social status and have made it possible the two things: woman achieves independence from man economically and politically.

The social status of Korean women has risen greatly than before in reality and I believe this movement is due to women's own efforts to change the subordinate relation to man in their own ways. That is to say, women have achieved economic independence from men through getting higher education and well-paying jobs, they have organized their own units by themselves to stand for their rights, and this is all could be possible because women have been fully aware of their problems as a woman living in society. Now Korean women do not try to rely on men any more but find their own way of living as an independent woman and break the old convention that woman is just a dependent being in society.

Woman's life as "Other" is not changed much since Simone de Beauvoir wrote "Woman as Other" in 1949. There are much discrimination against women, especially in my country, Korea. Some statistics tell us that woman is not the mainstream faction in society such as family, school, and work place. It is not because of the woman's lack of innate ability, but because of the oppression from society. Beauvoir says about it, "One is not born a woman, one becomes one." in the Second Sex. She also states the woman as "the Second Sex," not the subject, and I agree with her. In this article I will talk about the unfair treatment to woman in family, school, and work place.

In Korea, woman cannot enjoy equal rights with man as a full member in the family relationship. The Korean system "Ho-ju(the head of a family)," which is based on the paternal line, shows discrimination against woman very clearly. According to the system, when a woman marries, her name is entered in the family register of her husband. This makes females lose many rights such as an heirship. According to the 2000 statistics, the proportion of males to females in Korea was 108. Considering that the natural proportion is 105, it means that some people who prefer a son to a daughter abort female fetuses after distinguishing sex of an unborn child. At the interview(2000), many women who have the experience of an abortion said that they wanted to give birth to a son who can take over the line. When girls who survive an abortion grow up, they are demanded to be good at the household tasks more than their brothers. In Korea, over 70% women who have brothers answered that they have been demanded to help the household more than their brothers. It makes them think that their primary duties are keeping houses, and it causes the fixed gender role.

Even in school life, woman also experiences discrimination which is based on fixed gender role. In my highschool, a teacher always added "Boys, listen carefully. This is more urgent to you than to the girls." when he talked about the future career. It made girls feel to be the "Other," and made them think that jobs are not important to women. It is an unfair education according to sex. When punishing the students, some teachers inflict corporal punishment on the boys only, in spite of the faults that boys and girls made are the same. It makes girls lack all sense of responsibility, makes boys think "I take the responsibility for my behavior when she doesn't, so I am worth benefiting in some aspects." unconsciously. Treating students differently according to sex can be harmful to them.

In the work place, woman goes through discrimination in employment, promotion, etc. As Beauvoir says, woman lacks economical and political resources, and she is not the subject. According to the "Han-kook Ilbo"(a title of Korean newspaper), discrimination to woman in employment is deepening in economic crisis. Some corporations grant only men's applications, so many women can't get even the job opportunities. Few women occupy high positions and the rest work in low rank, in irregular jobs. Even though a woman is equal to a man in ability, in many case, the male get a job or promotes. What is worse, woman is regarded as the "flower" to cheer up the atmosphere in work place by man's view. It means many women are not regarded as the necessary workers in work place.

In family relationship, women are accustomed to be the Other by the notion of preferring a son to a daughter and the fixed gender role. Even in school, woman cannot get enough education for careers or self-realization as a subject. After they receive all these irrational social treatments, finally many women cannot get the equal opportunities with men in work place. In many parts of the Korean society, woman is not the subject, and she is treated as the Other. The situation Beauvoir states, "They are regarded as the Other," is still adequate in many parts in Korea.

In Korea, there is a proverb which is “If a hen says `cock-a-doodle-doo', her family will be ruined.” It represents a deep-rooted prejudice and a historical pressure to women in Korea. De Beauvoir says one of reasons for these problems is “women's lacking concrete means for organizing themselves into a unit which can stand face to face with the correlative unit.” (Woman as Other, 337) However, the situation is changing. Nowadays women can be a united group that confronts men and moreover they are already making themselves independent.

First, media development gives women concrete ways to unify themselves. In modern society, “media” is getting more power and spreading its region. Addition to this, appearance of “Internet” let most people use media for expressing their own voice on the web and, further more, in society. By Internet communities, women unify them as a group, get power and change the situation and also they make several web sites for women that make campaigns for women's right and social position. Some of them keep a close watch on mass media to criticize andocentric aspect and other make an effort to abolish law which hurts women's right. Women choose new media and they are becoming more political and social faster and faster.

Second, changing of domestic structure makes women independent. It's hard to find the large and man-oriented family in Korean society. Now, woman gets a big role related with family economy and politics in small and multiple-oriented family. Though there are many traditional structure families that are consist of earning husbands and house keeping wives, families of new generation have double incomes and they share great and small responsibilities of their family each other. Woman is not more under man's decision in family, but she can be independent as a person politically and socially.

Third, as the most important thing, women begin to accept the idea of being independent and make their voice louder. There is increasing of women who want challenge to the prejudice and pressure of men's society and history. In business, politics, art, studies and sports, women make impressive activities and works and destroy the wrong custom and structure that are born from men's prejudice. In short, they are not more satisfying with becoming “the Other” and they don't need the close relationship that joins them to men. In addition, woman begin to Appearance of new media and change of family structure give them possibilities of being a unity, having a power and they can say their political and social opinion and becoming independent.

In last analysis, modern Korean society makes a big change from a traditional concept of women. Women choose new media, Internet, as a practical way for their unity and their choice is proper and effective. Besides the domestic situation is changing in the relationship of two sexes. These changes are based upon women's ideology and needs which are related with being independent politically and socially. Although these, women may say it's not enough and, in fact, their saying is reasonable because it's just beginning that their effort to be independent.

Although woman's status in society has much risen, gender discrimination problem is still existing today. According to Simone de Beauvoir in the essay, “Woman as Other,” she insists “woman seems to be the inessential, because she herself fails to bring about change.” ( Simon de Beauvoir, p82 ) However I believe that this inequality in Korea is not due to women themselves, but because of peculiar Korean social system itself.

We can find the origin of gender discrimination in Korea in the fact that Korea is a Confucian country. The most main point that Confucian insists is 'men are the sky, women are the earth,' which means men are omnipotent being like God, whereas women are the inferior being who can survive only when they listen to what men order them to do. In confucianism, there are principles which shows these kinds of ideas well, such as 'Buchang Busu', 'Bubu Youbyul'. Both mean that the wife are dependent on the husband, and the wife should always follow their husband. Confucian played a very important role in society in the past, so Korean people could not help but believe in these principles naturally. These Confucian tradition has existed for a long time, and is so deep rooted that it is still affecting today's people's way of thinking strongly. Therefore women in Korea are regarded as inferior being to men.

Not only Confucian principles, but also the agricultural foundation on which Korea flourished is stirring up the problem. Korea is the agricultural country. Since the agricultural labor reqire such a back breaking task, It was a reasonable fact that muscular men were more favored than weak women in a paddy. Because of men's dominance in a working field, a true streotypical thought was formed in the Korean society that men were superior to women. With this stereotypical thought in their mind, today's preference for sons in Korea has been created through the ages. According to a Gallup study in 1994, for every live birth, 2.5% have been aborted just because a fetus was female gender. The obvious gender imbalance in live births in Korea signifies the continuing preference for male offspring.

A stereotypical judgment of men's dominance and inequality of women derived from Confucian principles and agricultural oriented society were consolidated through the public policy. This unfair public policy is well represented in the recruiting system of companies. Companies directly discriminate against female applicants by recruiting only males for policy-making positions, while women are dedicated to primarily non-influential positions in secretarial and accounting divisions.

Discrimination against women in Korea is resulted from Korean social system peculiar to Korea, such as, Confucian tradition and agricultural oriented country, rather than women's faults. In addition, this inequality is being reinforced by various public policy. Today, we are living in a high-tech society. In this society, people need someone who is creative and has flexible thinking, as well as a physically strong person. Therefore solving gender discrimination problem and encouraging women to take part in social activities are the key to success in today's competitive world. If we look through overall Korean culture and system, and try to change the system which in favor of men, our country will be better place to live in for both men and women.

In Korea, women are transforming their status from “Other” to “Subject.” Simone de Beauvoir wrote “Woman as Other” in 1949 as a part of The Second Sex. In the essay, she states lots of reasons why women can not be a “Subject” in the men-dominant society: lack of common settings, living together with men in a great variety of classes, locations and milieus, lack of economic, political and existential resources and “long-standing customs and traditional prestige” that makes women conservative (Beauvoir, p. 336-338). However, Korean women are securing their economic resources these days. After 1960s, there have been the efforts to equalize male and female educational opportunities all over the world. These efforts help to transform female status of being a “Subject”; therefore, new forms of the tangle between male and female are arose.

In the book, Das ganz normale Chaos der Liebe, a famous German sociologists couple, Ulich Beck and Elizabeth Beck-Gernsheim state, “Love is very normal but extremely confusing.” To prove this assertion, they sort human history out three steps. First step of the society is that family is an economic constituent unit; so, in this step neither male nor female have a biography as a subject. Second step is that while extensional family collapses, nuclear family substitutes old family system. In this step, male take a leadership in the family and sacrifice of female is the source to sustain family. Third sep is that both male and female has a burden and benediction to make their life as a “Subject”. In this step, “long-standing customs” is not trouble-solving broker any more. Every small tangle between men and women must be discussed and compromised each time (translation mine, Beck, p. 144). In this essay, I will reverse and broaden Beauvoir's idea, furthermore will state about new formula of love in the third step of society.

When Simone de Beauvoir wrote her essay in 1949, the human history was in the second step. At that time, the industrial modern society, paterfamilias was the only one economical actor. While men work for money at out of the house to the family, women work for the family independently of money at inside of the house. Men take a full charge of the income of the family; otherwise women do in the emotional part. The term of domestic woman proves this phenomenon well. Female, housekeeper, must be a mentally and physically massager to her leader, that is her husband, and her child. This division of labor between male and female is not caused from private compromise but from social compromise. Simone de Beauvoir points out this unfair division of labor very well. Modern industrial society used to maintain their system by feudalism inside of its system (Beck, p. 62-67, “Industrial Society: New Formula of the Feudalism”).

The deepening of capitalism and feminist movements make it possible female labor force thrust into the labor market. Equalization of educational opportunities accelerates female penetration into labor market. According to Annual Statistics of Education 2000, Korean Ministry of Education, women made a significant change on the ratio of entrance into college and ratio of commencement of work. The ratio of entrance into college is same as following: female is 30.8% and male is 32.5% in 1990, female is 61.2% and male is 65.7% in 1998 and female is 65.5% and male is 70.3% in 2000. The ratio of commencement of work is same as following: female is 31.7% and male is 67.7% in 1985, female is 39.7% and male is 65.1%, female is 50.0% and male is 69.2% in 1995 and female is 53.4% and male is 58.6% in 2000. This statistics approves that: first, both women and men's ratio of entrance into college is increasing in almost same rate and the difference is really small. Second, in 1985 the ratio of commencement of work is relatively low in comparison with man; however it is increased to almost same rate with man in 2000. As a result, women obtained their economic resources; therefore, women are also able to change their status from “Other” to “Subject”

Since then women have economical resources to be a “Subject”, women achieved their reciprocity with men, although it is imperfect. In this third step of society, the key issue between man and woman is “living together.” Why do women who have independence and self-support live together with men? No wonder educated women who have economical abilities try to live alone. However, fear to solitude make female to live together with men. Over credulity or blind belief to love is a concrete case. (Beck, P. 97-103, “The source of the personal stability” and “Love and marriage as a mental anchorage.”) Subjective women and subjective men must live together without any sacrifice from one party. From here, frequent tangles between women and men are arisen. With full of inconsistencies, women and men should live together.

Modern capitalistic market requests mobility of their organization personnel. Mobility is another big needed ability in the job market. If the company order him/her move to another place to work, the personnel must move to there if he/she want to maintain his/her job. However, if subjective man and woman made a family and lived together, the decision is not simple. Both women and men have their own occupational background; so, moving from old place to new place does not merely mean changing address. They have to discuss it to solve the problem; however, it is full of inconsistencies. (Beck, Ch. 2, “Love Is More Difficult Than Before.”) Monophobia make them live together and organize a family, job falls them into the trap that society made. It is the one of the reason that alternative families spread: lone mother family, lone father family, divorcement with child, cohabitation without formal marriage and so on. In the third step of society, “living together” as well as “being Subject” is important thesis.

When Simone de Beauvoir lived, the human history was in the second step of society. At that time, “Being a Subject” was an urgent problem between women and men, because women were absolutely dependent being to the men. However, the need of modern industrial society and the movement of feminists made equalization of educational opportunities; therefore, women obtained their economical resources to be a subject. In this third step of society, living together between subjective women and subjective men appears most urgent problem. Although fear to solitude makes both parties live together, love is absolutely confusing. Beauvoir's analysis was wise and sagacious, but replacement of her idea is the needs of the times. Here is my reponse to "Woman as other."

According to Simone de Beauvoir, in the essay“Woman as Other,” woman is regarded as “the Other” while man is regarded as “the One.”She reports that“woman has always been man's dependent; the two sexes have never shared the world in equality.” I agree with her statement, woman has tasted bitter discriminations as “the Other.” The phenomenon appears in many parts of Korea¯home, society and media. I will give three familiar examples of Korea's woman discriminations considering her as the object ¯ Korean Confucianism, Korean company, and mass media.

Confucianism has ruled people's thinking for a long time, which prescribes man is the master, the subject. Je-sa came from Confucianism. Je-sa means performing ancestral rites: people prepare foods and they make a deep bow to the pictures of their dead ancestors. I sometimes go to my grandfather's house and perform Je-sa. Whenever I performing Je-sa, I get angry because of male adults' attitudes. They never prepare foods, but they bow to the dead ancestors first whereas female adults bow later . Male adults regard it as natural, even female adults also think so. However I can't understand why we should keep this bad practice. It reflect the attitude that woman is the secondary person. A genealogical table and householder system also reflect the spirit of Confucianism. When the children are born, they naturally follow their father's family name in this system. Woman's name even does not be placed on genealogical table in some family lines.

In company, woman frequently experiences unfairness in Korea. Korea suffered national economic depression in late 1997, what is called “IMF (International Monetary Fund) Crisis.”Most Korean companies had to reduce the employees. They dismissed woman, especially married woman first. That is still continuous. Woman is thought as lacking of ability comparing with man in many occasions. She is the first standing in considering cutting down. The situation is changing little by little but woman still receives less wages than man although woman has equal ability and same position with man in many companies. Woman even tends to be forced to quit her job when they get married or pregnant.

Korean mass media also reminds that woman surely“the Object,”“the dependent” in Korean society. One evident example is soap opera. Many women have appeared in soap opera, but they are usually the secondary characters. Mostly men play the roles of the hero. Even though woman undertakes the main character, she is often described as a woman who loves man at the risk of her or an evil woman who tries every means to succeed and finally be ruined. In some soap opera, woman seems to be independent, enthusiastic in her occupation at first, but generally her family life is not good. These stories reveal a negative attitude about woman's activity, subjectivity as“the One.”

Woman has difficulty in standing up as “the One”in Korean Society. Confucianism(Korean conventional system), Korean companies, and mass media ( soap opera is one of this.) obstruct woman's effort to be “the One,”“the Subject.”If woman does not try to recover her status sincerely and take a passive attitude, woman shall be always “the Other.”Woman herself must make her mind, and start to react actively to the deep-rooted discriminations.

I agree with what Simon de Beauvoir says that "woman has not been socially emancipated through man's need -the desire for offspring(Beauvoir 337)." I think expressions such as fertile and infertile indicate that woman is regarded as a productive entity like the earth. In Korean society, most married couple want a child especially a boy. The boy holds the ancestral ceremonies of his family when he becomes an adult. In Confucian society like Korea, the ancestral ceremony, which is held after people's death to show respect for them, is very important, and only man has a right to hold it. If there is no boy in a family, it means there is no one to hold the ceremony in the future. This social custom enforces woman to bear sons. A woman who is infertile has been divorced and regarded as a criminal who prevents family's honor from holding a ceremony. Therefore, Korean married women are put under the pressure to give birth a boy, and this preference to boys leads the abortionof many fetus gilrs in Korea. I will examine this problem through the examples in my family and in TV soup opera, and show how many fetus girls are aborted because of the preference for boys.

In my family story, there was a woman who was divorced because of her inability of having a baby. When I was eighteen years old, I heard from my mother that my grandmother is not grandfather's first wife. His first wife was infertile, and very weak , so it looked impossible to expect her having a baby. Most people blamed her on staying in my grandfather's family and the woman herself felt guilty and thought my grandfather should get another wife. After three years of her marriage, my grandfather got the other woman, my grandmother, who could have a baby. The infertile woman was abandoned by her husband, and most people thought it is natural. Hearing this shocking and cruel story, I thought my grandfather should regret about his not fencing her against the absurd ideology that infertile woman does not have a right to be a wife. I doubted what the real meaning of marriage to him, it seemed that the only purpose of combination of two entities was to have their juniors. In this social convention, the infertile woman was discarded for her useless to the goal, having a boy.

Some people may say that abandoning a wife or getting another woman to have a baby is some kind of long time ago story. However, pressing women to bare a boy through marriage still exist in 2001 Korea. For example, Love and War is a TV soup opera dealing with the conflicts and errors between married couple and their family based on the real case. Two weeks ago I saw this program and it dealt with the wife and husband who have four girls and no boys. The main problem of their conflicts was husband's mother. The old and conservative woman wanted her daughter-in-law had a boy. Whenever the young woman failed to have a boy, the old woman made her daughter-in-law doing superstitious things which were believed to make woman bare a boy. For example, wearing a woman's underwear who had many sons, or carrying hot peppers which looks like man's penis under pants were stupid things the young woman has done. Cannot withstanding her mother-in-law's pressure, the young woman who has four girls decided to divorce her husband. It was remarkable that the one who manacled the young woman was a woman, her mother-in-law. The old woman herself once suffered from not having a boy when she was young. However, she was doing the same cruel thing upon her daughter-in-law. Through this story, I knew that the pressures for the offspring upon the women still existed, and sometimes it was a woman who repeated and enforced this manacle.

Not only is the women a sacrificed lamb of this preference to boys but also thirty thousand fetus girls. Thirty thousand fetus girls are removed from her mother's womb illegally every year in Korea because many couples want one or two children and prefer boys to girls. As a result, in the elementary school class, there are more boys than girls. According to Jo Nam-hun the vice president of Korean Heal Association, the birth sex rate, the number of boys per one hundred girls, 115.3 in 1995 is much higher than the average 106. Because of the Korean society's pressure upon women's duty to have offsprings, and the idea about offspring means boys, many fetus girls are aborted in Korea. This is another example how women are sacrificed by the desire for offsprings.

Korean woman is suffering from the need of having a offspring, expecially the need for boys, and this pressure resulted in the removing of thousand fetus girls in her mother's womb. Many feminist have a campaign like "Loving daughters" to against the social mood the preference to boys. Through my grandfather's first wife example, I know that woman regard herself a criminal if she cannot bare a baby and cannot dare to blame the society which presses her. As it showed on TV program, even woman herself is surrounded by the ideology of bearing a boy and enforces this idea to the other woman. The desire for offspring as de Beauvoir says cannot free woman from the discrimination (Beauvoir 337), and woman does not realize this desire manacles her. Korean woman thinks that it is her duty to bare a baby. The first step for Korean women to be free from the desire for the offspring is that the preference toward boys has to be disappeared. Then, she has to realize it is her right to choose whether she will have a baby or not.

Simon de Beauvoir states in “Women as Other," woman is not regarded as an autonomous being"(de Beauvoir 334). Woman does not have her own identity but has been subordinated to man. This article was written about 50 years ago, but considering women in Korea, the situation has changed little. In companies and Internet sites, woman still remains as an object. Some women have tried to change this inequitable condition, but the essential situation has not changed at all. For this reason, I agree with Beauvoir that woman is under man`s subordination.

For a Korean woman, there is little chance to get a professional job, so it is difficult for her to participate actively in the society like man. It is a vicious circle. Generally, most male CEOs in companies have the opinion that man has a better work ability and is more diligent than woman. This opinion can be true in some ways, but it is not because woman is not as smart or she is lazy. Even if the woman gets a job, she needs holidays for childbirth and does not want to over work because she has to take care of the housework after work, unlike a man. Of course, a CEO or a boss will not like it. As a result, the company wants a man rather than a woman. If a woman cannot be free from her children and housework, it is impossible for her to keep the job though she got it with difficulty. To destroy the vicious circle, men and women have to innovate for woman`s better work condition.

Through Internet, the state of woman as an object strengthened in some parts. In many Korean Internet sites, pictures of nice shaped half-naked girls overflow. Men enjoy seeing them, and women enjoy pleasing the man. In meeting sites that help single man and woman meet only men have to pay. Woman is allowed to join the site freely and becomes goods for man. Man, who pays, chooses a woman, and tries to get her. It is very interesting that men always try to connect with women first. Internet makes woman be an object who waits for man, expecting someone to choose her. These kind of Internet sites has increased because the internet population has increased very much in Korea. Therefore, it is easy for many Korean people to join the sites through internet, and many masters of the site adopt the demand of man who wants woman as goods. Therefore, Korea has the highest Internet pornography usage in the world.

Some women have strived to change the situation. As a result, Korean woman are more educated and the number of career woman has increased. However, their basic position has not changed. Although it looks like woman has tried to change things, she still wants to remain as the housekeeper, because it is easier than to change the situation. Housework is still hers. Moreover, she wants to act in society, as a career woman, but there are not enough institutions that help with upbringing children. Consequently, there is nothing left to be but a superwoman. Then the man tells the woman to stay home if it is too hard to be a superwoman and the woman does. Lots of women aged 30-36 are staying home to take care of their children. Almost as many women as men have a collage education in Korea, but a woman has more difficulty to get a job than a man.

Woman has always depended on man to fulfill her need to live a convenient life, and it has changed little. Korean women are still in lower position than man in society. I think if woman could express her abilities, she could do as well as man. People are just starting to attempt the change which is needed to make a society that both man and woman are the subjects in most activities. It is sure that both man and woman must change the community for the better. People should not give up the trial and must go on until men and women are equal. I hope people can fulfill this goal.

In the essay "Woman as Other" Simone de Beauvoir says that women are always the Other. De Beauvoir believes that because women have never attempted to change unequal situation they have been as an object at all times. I agree that women have been always the Other as it is the fact that they have not had the same rights with men in many ways. Furthermore, today, though women have more legal rights women can not share the world equally with men, while men already have a lot of advantages in society. However, I disagree that women never attempt to change unequal situation because, at least now, women are trying to become a subject in a society, and a little change is happening. I will argue that women are still the Other in Korea, but the situation start to change in some ways.

Korean women are the Other in a family. For example, it is natural that mother cleans the house, launders family's clothes and washes the dishes. Even if mother has a job, all houseworks are originally hers. Above all the middle-aged husband does not care for the housework because they seldom saw men do the housework and never learned how to do it. Men consider himself as the head of a family, and he think that he can only help her works. Moreover, according to the householder law, women can not have householder's right. It means if husband die, even if son is only two years old, he has a right as a household instead of mother. What is worse, this law is acting not only in Korea but in many other countries.

Women are also the Other in a society. In Korea, when woman has a job interview, the interviewer often inquire of her "If you get married, will you work go on?" Of course, the interviewer never asks same question to man. We can often see smoking men in the street in Korea, on the other hand, most smoking women seldom smoke in the street. Korean often treat smoking man and woman differently. Anybody do not care about smoking man except the reason of health, but smoking woman have to feels other's strange eyes as she is woman. This is a reason that most smoking women enjoy their smoking mainly in the toilet.

However, the present women do not look on their lives as the Other. A lot of women perceive the inequality between men and women, and women claim their right as a subject. For instance, in Korea, some feminist propose to follow both father's and mother's last name in favor of equality between man and woman. Some people practice this movement actually (For example, someone calls herself Kim Jung, Ji-yoon.) although they are minority. The rate of working woman is increasing. This is because women think when they have a job, they can stand as a subject. Social parts that women can not advance also start to open. For example, women can enter a military academy, and the first Korean woman general came into the world recently. Women's efforts bring these results.

As de Beauvoir's claim women have been the Other in Korea for a long time, and society still discriminate against women in many ways. Most mother live with burden of housework, and women to want to have a job experience discrimination. However, contrary to de Beauvior's argument present women in Korea make efforts to change their situation. Women claim that they live as a subject. More women stand alone economically, and some women follow not only father's last name but mother's last name. Even they go ahead area limited to women until now. These Changes are positive, but we do not have to stop. It is the time that we accelerate our efforts. I believe that changes and tries would go on, and women can find their position as a subject.

At first, I thought about the reason why Korean still prefer sons to daughters in Korea. The main reason is we succeed generations through sons. It is because we ignore that has an ovum which is another precious half of the and a spermatozoon is just the half of seed. That is to say, Korean men don't want to admit that women are equal with them.

Second, some of Korean woman may not want to follow the view of women which the older generation and man force woman to be; However, Korean women need to look back at the fact that we follow traces of the view of woman which man wants and the view we have learnt since we were born in Korean society. But we still might not lay such consciousness aside. We prefer woman with feminine beauty and sex appeal to woman with masculine appearance and compete with man for success. Above all, it seems that woman want to be suit man's taste. This is one of the reasons why woman has still been treated unfairly since the time Beauvoir wrote the essay.

Luckily, the sex role and the notion of sexual awareness have passive comparing with the period of Beauvoir's life. However, there is still inequality in sexes, because man has not changed much inside but pretends to approve equality of the sexes outside. It is also supported by the fact that superior woman and woman who is better off than man are considered uncomfortable on man's perspective. Man recommends and supports spouse's work but has conservative manner to woman although man the world is passive.

Beauvoir remarked pointedly the reality of woman's lacking subjectivity is because she gets by getting small profits from man's society. I think this is quite a penetrating point and also the key of the emancipation of women. Woman has to think seriously how to think and behave to find subjectivity with a long view. Moreover, the emancipation of women is not to restrain woman in relationship between woman and man. However, it doesn't mean that we deny the relationship itself. We need to promote good friendship by eliminating discrimination between woman and man by establishing freedom and identity in this reality.

Simone de Beauvior states in her article " Women as Other" that "If women seems to be the inessential which never becomes the essential, it is because she herself fails to bring about this change" (Simone de Beauvoir 336). This is true, and for a long time women have been trying to change things for the better. However, women are still the "Other" in Korea. It is because changes cannot be made by only women. Changes should be made together with men, and also with the society they all live in.

Many times I notice that in the Korean society, sometimes even women think women are abnormal and accidental beings. Mostly old women think in such ways, and I think that they have to change their thoughts in order to become the "one," not the "other." Once, I was sitting in the subway with my two younger sisters when an old lady came near us and started talking. She said that it is a shame that I don't have any brothers, and then commented that my mother must be sad because she failed to give birth to a boy. The old lady probably still had the old confucian idea that boys are better than girls, because in her time boys took care of parents while girls got married and became a part of another family. In the confucian community married women were not allowed to visit her parents often and also, women were not allowed to hold a memorial service after their parent's death. Memorial service is a special ceremony praying for peace of the dead and keeping the grave clean. Ol!

d people in Korea think that the ceremony is very important, and that is why they think it is better to have a son. Those out dated thoughts cause many social problems such as abortion, and sexual unbalance. To give birth to a boy, some people distinguish the baby's sex before the baby is born and if it is a girl, they get an abortion. This is strictly forbidden by the law, but it still happens secretly. As a result, there are more men in Korea, and the unbalance in numbers make women the minority, which is a unique problem in Korea. In most countries women are not the minority in numbers, as Beauvoir stated. This is an obstacle for Korean women to become the "One." To overcome that obstacle Korean women should start giving their ancestors their own memorial services and taking care of their parents. Such actions will help old people see things in a new point of view, and help them get rid of old confucian ideas.

The author commented that "for him, she is sex, absolute sex, no less"(de Beauvoir 334). Even though many years have passed, men have not changed much. Men tend to judge women by their appearances instead of their abilities, but men should remember that women are not pretty dolls that satisfy men's sexual desires. For example, in beauty contests such as Miss Korea and the Super Model Contest, people judge women by their body sizes not by their personalities or virtues. Things are not different in the office, because there are many employers who look at applicant's appearances during job interviews. This is why there are many girls who desire to get plastic surgeries. I think women should not act so passively and try to fight back, but they can't do much because they need the job. It is a never ending circle that causes never ending problems. To break the circle and to fix the problems, not only women but men have to change. They should think of women as their co-workers,their partners in the world instead of dependent, sexual beings. Also, men should judge women by their intellectual abilities and personalities, as they judge men.

Beauvoir mentioned that both women and men should change, but she did not mention the social problems. There are some social systems that are unfair to women in Korean society, and without fixing those systems it will be hard for women to become the subject. For instance, when a company is in trouble, women are the first to be released. The company explains that this is because men have to take care of his family, and because most of the time women have husbands or fathers to support them. It is not right, for they are treating women as relative to men. Companies should let go of people according to their working abilities. Even when women join a company, employers often make them sign an unfair contract which forces them to quit the company when they get married. Also, in Korea women cannot be the master of a household which can be a problem for single mothers and divorced women. Since having the leadership of a household is important when divorced women want to keep their children, some women give up the divorce for their children's sake. All these unfair social systems should be fixed. Women should have the rights to be the master of a household, and they should have the rights to keep their job after marriage and even after giving birth to a child. Changes in the society is crucial because even if both men and women change their thoughts, without the social changes women's rights cannot be guaranteed.

In her article "Women as Other," Beauvoir states that to become the subject women have to change for themselves. I agree with her in that, but their changes alone are not enough. For women to become the "one" men have to treat women as independent, and the society should change the unfair systems. Women, men and the society must change together in order to make equality of the sexes come true.

Yonsei Korea

Here are student's responses to the classic Simone de Beauvoir essay "Woman as Other"