A South Korean politician is facing backlash for making unsubstantiated claims that link the rise in male suicides to a “female-dominated society.”
Seoul City councillor Kim Ki-duck released a report suggesting that the increasing social participation of women and their dominant role in society are connected to a growing number of male suicides.
In his report on the Seoul Metropolitan Council’s website, Mr. Kim argued that women’s participation has led to a shortage of male labor and made it more difficult for men to find marriage partners. “Unlike the past, when patriarchy and male-dominant ideology were prevalent in Korea, as of 2023, it has begun to change into a female-dominated society with about 5 percent more women than men,” he stated.
To counteract the “female-dominant phenomenon,” Mr. Kim proposed improving gender equality awareness so that both men and women can enjoy equal rights and opportunities and addressing the labor shortage by increasing men’s social participation. He cited data from Han River bridges over the past six years, showing suicide attempts rising from 430 in 2018 to 1,035 in 2023, with the percentage of men attempting suicide increasing from 67 percent to 77 percent.
The councillor’s comments have been widely criticized, with many labeling them as unsubstantiated and harmful to women.
Professor Jang Sook-rang of Chung-Ang University’s Red Cross College of Nursing stated to the Hankyoreh news website that the male suicide rate has always been high, regardless of women’s social participation. Lee Min-ah, a professor of sociology at Chung-Ang University, noted that the solution lies not in “overcoming the female-dominated society” but in breaking away from patriarchal gender roles.
“If men feel anxious as more women enter society, we need to move toward a society that breaks away from the traditional gender roles that men should be the breadwinners or that women should be the sole caretakers of children,” she said.
Mr. Kim told the Hankyoreh, “I wrote this based on my own personal views, inferring the causes of the male suicide rate.”
