Italian Media Attributes South Korea's Low Birth Rate to Gender Conflict, Calling Hair Curlers a Symbol of Rebellion

A major Italian media outlet is drawing attention by highlighting South Korea's increasingly severe low birth rate problem and pointing to gender conflict as its fundamental cause.

In an international section article published on August 2 titled "South Korean Mothers Are on Strike: Extinction Crisis of the East Asian Tiger," Italian daily Corriere della Sera examined South Korea's declining birth rate phenomenon and its causes.

Journalist Michela Mantovani, who wrote the article, noted that South Korea's total fertility rate (the average number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime) dropped to 0.81 in 2021, one of the lowest levels in the world, diagnosing that "newborns are not being born in South Korea. The small yet powerful Asian tiger is in the middle of a population decline apocalypse."

Mantovani pointed to gender inequality in South Korean society and discrimination in the workplace as the fundamental causes of the country's plunge into the low birth rate trap.

Women who have acutely experienced these contradictions are intentionally avoiding childbirth, she stated.

She defined this as a "birth strike."

At the same time, she pointed out that in South Korea's capital, Seoul, it is easy to see well-dressed women with heavy makeup wearing hair curlers on their heads.

Mantovani interpreted these hair curlers, which seem indifferent to the gazes of those around them, as a symbol of "rebellion" against a world built by men.

She also published a photo of Lee Jeong-mi, then Acting President of the Constitutional Court, arriving at work with a hair curler on her head on March 10, 2017, the day of the ruling on the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye.

She further drew attention to the fact that "Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982," a novel dealing with the story of a woman growing up amidst gender discrimination, has sold over 1 million copies in South Korea.

Mantovani explained that South Korean women, who had long been suppressed by Confucian culture represented by a patriarchal system, have developed a heightened awareness of gender discrimination through democratization and the influx of Western culture.

In contrast, she added, changes in social gender roles have lagged behind, creating social conflicts between men and women, women and patriarchal culture, and young men and hardcore feminists.

This social atmosphere, she noted, could be sensed in the Netflix series "Extraordinary Attorney Woo," which gained worldwide attention last year.

She reported that episode 12 of "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" realistically depicted how companies pressure women to submit resignations when planning corporate mergers or workforce reductions.

She also introduced lyrics from a song by BLACKPINK, one of the most famous K-pop groups: "I don't wanna be a princess. My value cannot be measured. There is no prince on my list of wants. Love is a drug I quit."

As gender conflict worsens like this, many women are striking by avoiding childbirth to break away from being "baby-making machines," and some are actively choosing a single lifestyle by pursuing the so-called "4B" movement (no dating, no sex, no marriage, and no childbirth), she reported.

Mantovani emphasized, "Ultimately, gender equality is the solution to overcome the low birth rate," adding that "guaranteeing a fairer and safer life for women is the only way to miraculously defeat the crisis of extinction facing the South Korean nation."
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.