Seoul Foundation for Women and Family releases report

'Stable life' tops list of priorities

Career disruption cited as top threat for women

This image is for illustrative purposes only and is not directly related to the article. [Getty Images Bank]
This image is for illustrative purposes only and is not directly related to the article. [Getty Images Bank]

About 70 percent of young Seoul residents surveyed said both men and women face discrimination, while roughly one in four women said they do not want to get married, according to a new report on gender equality awareness.

The Gender Equality and Safety Division of the Seoul Foundation for Women and Family released the report — titled "Life Outlook and Policy Demands of Seoul Youth Based on Gender Equality Awareness" — on Sunday.

The survey was conducted online from May 11 to May 29 among 2,647 Seoul residents between the ages of 19 and 34. The most common attitude toward gender equality, held by 40.3 percent of respondents, was what the report called the "fairness-oriented" type — those who acknowledge both structural inequality against women and discrimination against men.

The second-largest group, at 29.9 percent, was the "gender-discrimination-sensitive" type: respondents who strongly recognize discrimination against women while also agreeing that men face discrimination and supporting gender-neutral fairness.

Those classified as "gender-equality-oriented" — who recognize discrimination against women but not against men — accounted for 14.5 percent, while the "reverse-discrimination-sensitive" type, who reject the notion of female discrimination and believe men are treated unfairly, made up 6.4 percent.

When asked what they value most in their current lives, more than half of respondents — 52.8 percent — chose a stable life. High income came second at 20.6 percent, followed by work-life balance at 16.3 percent and self-fulfillment at 7.1 percent.

The desire for a stable life was strong among both men and women, though the two groups differed on what they saw as the main obstacles. In follow-up interviews conducted alongside the online survey, women cited career sustainability and work-life balance as their primary concerns, while men pointed to income and the burden of securing housing.

When asked what matters most in planning for the future, 44.5 percent of respondents chose work. Personal lifestyle came second at 18.3 percent, ahead of partnership at 16.1 percent and children and family at 14.6 percent.

About one in three respondents said they feel pressure from gender-role expectations — 34.7 percent of women and 34.5 percent of men, nearly identical rates.

The foundation also asked the 2,331 respondents without a spouse about their intentions to marry.

Only 35.5 percent of women and 43.4 percent of men said they both want to marry and consider it feasible — meaning neither group reached a majority.

A clear "do not want to marry" response was given by 25.6 percent of women, double the rate among men at 12.8 percent.

The most common reason was not feeling the need for marriage — cited by 51.8 percent of women and 38.9 percent of men — followed by the financial burden of getting married, at 14.7 percent for women and 23.9 percent for men.

On plans for having or adopting children, 30.9 percent of women and 43.4 percent of men said they both want to and believe it is possible.

The share who said they do not want children was again roughly twice as high among women at 32.3 percent compared with 16 percent for men.

The top reasons cited were financial burden — 28.8 percent for women and 47.2 percent for men — followed by doubts about being a good parent at 20.7 percent for women and 16.9 percent for men, and not wanting to be tied down by child-rearing at 19.9 percent for women and 14 percent for men.

The foundation said policy demands vary depending on respondents' views on gender equality, their economic activity, and their intentions and perceived feasibility around marriage and childbearing. It recommended that Seoul reflect these findings in its youth policies covering employment, housing, asset building, social isolation, safety and care, saying doing so "would help raise both the perceived effectiveness of policies and their impact on gender equality."


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