East Asia

SOUTH KOREA’S 4B MOVEMENT: HOW PATRIARCHY UNDERMINES DEMOGRAPHIC SECURITY

SOUTH KOREA’S 4B MOVEMENT: HOW PATRIARCHY UNDERMINES DEMOGRAPHIC SECURITY

Having the world’s lowest fertility rate, South Korea faces a complex demographic crisis amid an intense gender war, where marriage and childrearing have become politicized. As a response to the government’s pro-natalist policies aimed at reinforcing the country’s demographic security and an increasing economic precarity among young Koreans, radical feminists have taken a political stance against patriarchal and conservative expectations placed upon women in Korean society. Articulated around the 4B movement, they say no to sex, dating, marriage, and children, reinforcing a growing trend for Korea’s demographic future.