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The Harsh Reality Of Being a Woman in South Korea

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo

Rute Barros
4 min readMar 11, 2022
Cover of Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo. Source: Amazon.

Kim Ji-young is the most common name for Korean women born in the 1980s.
Kim Ji-young is representative of her generation:

At home, she is an unfavoured sister to her princeling little brother.
In primary school, she is a girl who has to line up behind the boys at lunchtime.
In high school, she is a daughter whose father blames her for being harassed late at night.
In university, she is a good student who doesn’t get put forward for internships by her professor.
In the office, she is an exemplary employee who is overlooked for promotion by her manager.
At home, she is a wife who has given up her career to take care of her husband and her baby.

Kim Ji-young is depressed.
Kim Ji-young has started acting out.
Kim Ji-young is her own woman.
Kim Ji-young is insane.

Kim Ji-young is sent by her husband to a psychiatrist.
This is his clinical assessment of the everywoman in contemporary Korea.

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Rute Barros
Rute Barros

Written by Rute Barros

Bookworm & Dreamer 🇵🇹 🇮🇪 Get free book recommendations sent directly to your inbox: https://perusal.substack.com/

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