In a traditionally patriarchal society, can the #MeToo movement make a difference?

A movie director, a famous poet, and a politician believed to be the next president— these are just a few among the Korean men who have been exposed by the #MeToo movement.

The popular #MeToo movement — which aims to spread awareness of the widespread prevalence of Sexual misconduct — has made its way into South Korea, and heads have started to roll. The first high-profile incident happened when an award-winning female prosecutor went on national TV to tell the nation about her sexual assault experience. Her story shocked the public and inspired more Women to follow suit.

The accused

Several influential figures were subsequently accused of sexual misconduct. After being inspired by the prosecutor’s bravery, a female movie director publicly accused another female director — Lee Hyun-ju — of sexual assault. This story gripped the public in a strong, but different way as homosexuality is still not a freely spoken about topic in Korean society. This also helps challenge the stereotype that sexual abuse is only committed by men.

The next #MeToo victim was the famous poet Ko Un. He was accused by fellow writer Choi Young-mi of sexual harassment but denied the allegations. Nevertheless, he is already feeling the consequences. The Ministry of Education announced that his poems will be removed from school textbooks. This is a particularly hard blow to someone who had been widely considered as a candidate for the Noble Prize in Literature.

As more influential men were being exposed, women gradually began building up the courage to speak up. On February 28, a group of sixteen women filed a complaint with the prosecution against theater director Lee Yoon-taek, over alleged sexual harassment over an eighteen-year period. Lee admitted his wrong behavior and expressed shame and regret for his actions. However, he denied all rape charges. Far from protecting his fractured image, this resulted in more women coming forward — explicitly accusing him of rape — thus further strengthening the case against him.

Ahn Hee-jung

Then, on March 5, the biggest #MeToo-related scandal broke. The governor of South Chungcheong Province, Ahn Hee-jung, was accused of sexual assault. His secretary, Kim Ji-eun, went on TV Monday to accuse her former boss of sexual assault and rape. She said: “I did not have the courage to come forward, but I was inspired by those participating in the #MeToo movement.”

This accusation comes as an immense shock to the Korean public, as the governor was widely seen as a respected and reputable politician. Ahn participated in the previous presidential elections but lost to then-candidate Moon Jae-in in the primary. Ahn had a good chance at becoming Moon’s successor in 2022 and becoming the country’s next president. Those aspirations are now crushed.

Ahn announced his resignation after the scandal and said he would cease all of his political activities. He was also expelled by his party — the ruling Democratic Party of Korea.

Besides the aforementioned men and woman, a former lawmaker, Chung Bong-ju, and a former Ewha University professor were also accused of sexually harassing women. Chung was planning on running for mayor of Seoul but canceled his plans after the allegations became public.

Patriarchal society

Korea is known to be a patriarchal society with a strong hierarchical social system. Men and elders dominate the social hierarchy while the young must obey elders and respect their authority. This often leads to scenarios where the powerful feel they have control over the weak. Such a power imbalance can subsequently lead to sexual misconduct. This gender-stratified hierarchy has been the dominant norm in Korean society for generations and has consequently assigned women with a perpetual inferior status relative to men.

Today, the World Economic Forum ranks the South Korea 118th of 144 in terms of gender equality. There is also a significant gender wage gap issue — women in South Korea earn only 63% of what men earn; the biggest gap among OECD countries.

Nevertheless, these recent developments show that South Korean society might be making a shift away from patriarchy towards gender equality — in as far as that is possible. President Moon lauded the #MeToo movement last month by saying: “This is a problem that has been festering so long it could have burst open any time. I applaud those who had the courage to tell their stories.” He also added that the country “cannot solve this through laws alone and needs to change our culture and attitude.”

#MeToo 2.0

The #MeToo movement is not the first time Korean women have stood up for women’s rights, though. In October 2016, women started a national hashtag campaign to raise awareness about sexual violence. They aimed to highlight the prominence of sexual misconduct cases in many industries, the most prominent of which were the literary and art fields.

Women have also raised awareness of (sexual) abuse in relationships. A study last year found that almost 80% of men had abused — either physically or psychologically — their girlfriend while they were dating. The lead researcher, Hong Young-oh, said that “The high number of such actions show that the abusers themselves were not aware of or did not recognize their actions as dating abuse.” This shows that such abuse against women is a deep-rooted societal problem.

Victims have indeed been speaking out for years, but they usually drew little attention and were instead subjected to defamation lawsuits and ostracized at work. This is still a problem today. Many women don’t have the courage to speak out against their abusers because they fear not being believed or suffering further harassment. This situation is made worse when the accused holds a powerful position. Such influence can easily be used to scare anyone into silence.

Could this backfire?

While most women, and many men, may see this movement positively, it may also have negative side-effects. An increasing amount of Korean men are actually becoming wary of being around female co-workers, some even refusing to attend company dinners with female colleagues present.

They argue that they don’t want to risk their careers due to possible misunderstandings related to sexual misconduct. Women, however, worry that this situation may lead to more sexual discrimination at work. As a result, they may end up feeling left out, ignored, given less importance, and offered fewer career-advancing opportunities than their male peers. Since Korean society is male-dominated, many women see this as a legitimate concern.

But will this last? Will society’s thinking really change? Or is this all a fad that will die down in a few weeks or months? Deep-rooted social structures and behaviors will not disappear or change because of a few sexual misconduct scandals. Current laws related to sexual abuse must be revised, more women must come forward, and the movement has to spread to more industries. This is only the tip of a very large — and well-hidden— iceberg.

Towards equality?

South Korea still has a long way to go regarding gender equality, but progress is being made. Women are inspiring each other and finding the strength to share their stories and demand punishment for those who have wronged them. Small steps like these will slowly change the way women are seen in society.

With the wounds of the comfort women issue still fresh, Korean women hold a unique position to play a leading role in promoting women’s rights and gender equality. Each woman that speaks up is taking a step at rebalancing gender roles and changing deep-rooted norms. Today’s generation must take action now so that the monuments built in one-hundred years will no longer be of female victims, but of female victors.

Women’s day special: How the #MeToo movement is unfolding in South Korea was originally published in The Peninsula Report on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.