One 28-year-old woman, who worked in HR, said she'd seen people who were forced to leave their jobs or who were passed over for promotions after taking maternity leave, which had been enough to convince her never to have a baby.
@rowlandm@DeliaChristina interestingly there was an article in a German paper describing South Korea building a faster subway, so that people would get to and from work faster, so that they would have time to have a family. That would solve their low birth rate problem. I thought: hmmm...
This shows they should do some more thinking...
Wow.
I had to look up what "4B" is. Wow.
This will take some time to digest, but one thing that struck me reading the article below, is that in a place that is racially homogeneous, the way patriarchy bears down on women becomes very obvious.
What i find interesting is how women from a totally other culture have arrived at the same conclusions as the rad fems had in the West back in the 70s/80s.
The rapid spread of 4B via Reddit and other online spaces has hastened its spread -- as well as boomeranging to US young women via TikTok. I think that little splash of discursive gasoline is really going to help it spread.
I knew the birth rate in SK is very low, but didn't know why. You're right, building this train will be great for commuters, but won't do much for the birth rate.
The total fertility rate was around 6 babies (!) per woman in 1960. You can see the arrival of the birth control pill.
The recent (post 2015) birth rate decline must be more widespread than the 4B movement, which is estimated to be around 0.1% of the total population.
After 2015 the SK marriage rate went from 6 per 1000 people in the 1990s to 3.7 today. That's a societal seismic spasm. Meaning, the 50,000 women estimated to be in the 4B movement must be part of a much deeper and broader change.
What happened in 2015?
China sneezed and SK caught a cold. There was an economic downturn, a housing crisis, and a household debt problem. IOW, stress in people's lives.
But there was a much steeper decline following 1973, the year of the oil crisis. Perhaps that crisis is also reflected in the rise of feminism in the 1970s and 1980s.
In economic downturns, who gets laid off first? Who is more likely to get hurt at home when stress and tempers rise?
Add comment