But if you do, there’s a real danger you might start thinking and acting like one…
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes. Photo (cropped) by Raka Miftah @Pexels.
So, I finally have the elevator pitch about what feminism is.
Pursuing equality of opportunity. For all sexes and sexual orientations.
It’s crude, but I think it’d do. In the moment, there’d probably be so little time to work with whoever might be asking, and so much hostility from some, that my priority would be getting them to acknowledge any inequality between men and women even exists at all.
First then, I’d broach that different sexes paying different prices for essentially the same product or service, or the same price for an inferior version of them, is obviously unfair.
(I wouldn’t waste any more time on anyone who couldn’t even concede that.)
I’d want to tread carefully next though. Maybe my inquirer wouldn’t know—or hadn’t deigned to know—that there are so many cases of this ‘pink tax’ out there, so named because it’s overwhelmingly women that suffer from them. And we’ve already established that we wouldn’t have time to go through them either.
Nervous about that lack of time, here the old me, when he hadn’t even had the chance to convince them the pink tax is actually a thing yet, would jump the gun by explaining how just being angry about that discrimination, and wanting to do something about it, absolutely makes someone a feminist in his book.
The new me though, knowing how toxic that f-word is to so many people outside my circles, especially in Korea, would confine himself to providing one or two quick examples, and consider that a solid achievement.
Photo by Andy Song on Unsplash.
These two handy Korean ones for instance, which come courtesy of an April 22, 2024 contribution to the “중앙로365” column in the Busan Ilbo by Byeon Jeong-hee, standing representative of the ‘Salim’ Women’s Human Rights Support Center (my emphasis). Both about issues dear to my heart, for reasons I’ll explain in a moment, it’s surely more effective to let my inquirer put two and two together themselves about them after we part too, than beat them over the head with their obvious takeaways:
얼마 전 부동산에도 ‘핑크택스(Pink Tax)’ 현상이 일어나고 있다는 기사를 읽었다. ‘여성 전용’ 원룸이나 ‘여성 안심 구역’에 위치한 부동산 매물의 월세나 보증금이 다른 매물에 비해 비싸게 책정되어 있다는 것이다. 부동산 정보 플랫폼에서 제공한 자료에 따르면 서울 주요 10개 대학 중 원룸 월세는 이화여자대학교가 월 71만 원으로 가장 비쌌는데, 대부분 여성 전용 원룸 밀집 지역이었다. 부산에서도 부산대 인근 여성 전용 원룸과 일반 원룸을 비교한 결과, 별도 보안 장치가 추가된 것이 아님에도 불구하고 여성 전용 원룸의 월세가 약 20만 원 비쌌다는 취재 결과가 있었다. 때문에 주로 여성들이 느끼는 범죄에 대한 두려움이나 안전에 대한 불안을 이용한 마케팅이자 핑크택스라는 지적이다.
“Not long ago, I read an article saying that the ‘Pink Tax’ phenomenon was occurring in real estate….The monthly rent or deposit for real estate properties located in ‘female-only’ studio apartments or ‘female-safe zones’ are set at a higher price compared to other properties. According to data provided by a real estate information platform, among the 10 major universities in Seoul, Ewha Womans University had the highest monthly rent at 710,000 won per month, and most of them were concentrated areas of studio apartments exclusively for women. In Busan, as a result of comparing women-only one-rooms and regular one-rooms near Pusan National University, the results showed that the monthly rent for women-only one-rooms was about 200,000 won more expensive even though there were no additional security devices. Therefore, it is pointed out that it is a marketing and pink tax that mainly exploits women’s fear of crime or anxiety about safety.”
This may come as a surprise. For a long time Korea has had a reputation as a safe country, and in many respects it still is—the homicide rate is extremely low by international standards. However, it has also long been one of the few places in the world where women are actually more likely to be murdered than men. And, since the 2016 murder of a woman in a public toilet in Gangnam especially, the perception that Korea is a safe country for women is, I suspect, one largely only felt by outside visitors, relying on outdated, frequently sanitized (or naive) sources.
Instead, for women living in Korea in 2024: femicides by ex-boyfriends; dating violence; random attacks while hiking, while waiting for an elevator, or simply having short hair; and an increasing numbers of stalkers? All these contribute to a constant feeling of danger, that there is an epidemic of violence against women, and that “nowhere feels safe.”
Photo (cropped) by Matteo Catanese on Unsplash.
It’s no wonder then, that among all demographics, it’s women living alone who are most anxious about these developments, so are prepared to pay extra not to have to worry about them. Indeed, so anxious that their fears are now being exploited by landlords and realtors, as Byeon points out.
I do however, completely acknowledge that she is vague about her sources, and provides none of their data. Indeed, the ‘Salim’ Women’s Human Rights Support Center, which Byeon represents, is actually an anti-sex work organization, which makes me wary of potential hyperbole in her claims (this is my unfortunate experience with such organizations). So, I’ll endeavor to find those sources and data myself for a follow-up post.
Source: Remark Vill.
Mom, you’re bringing that up again?
I’m taking care of things myself now!
I can get lightbulbs changed if I need to, and the toilet unblocked too.
I don’t need to call Dad!
But I also acknowledge I’m inclined towards their likely truth, based on my deep dive into Remark Vill serviced apartments’ advertising campaign with then 32 year-old Im Se-mi in 2020 above. Because, although it first drew my attention through the cloying, traditional, initializing gender roles it portrayed (Could my interlocutor in the elevator seriously imagine a man being asked to say those things? Could anyone?), it also left me with a heavy sense of just how unsafe women felt even back then, the grim, more recent statistics in all those links above being just the tip of the iceberg of those I outlined in that earlier post.
Plus, in an equally deep follow-up the next year, I recounted what I learned from two must-read books about how adding safety features for women, real or otherwise, were often implemented entirely for financial reasons (gentrifying a neighborhood say), so frequently didn’t substantively improve women’s safety at all. Also, I learned how various Korean government policies often financially discriminate against single female households specifically.
No wonder Korean women are pissed.
But of course my new elevator friend and I would never get that far. And I’d want to save them the embarrassment too, of getting into knots arguing that Korea’s consistently terrible gender gap…is because of Korean women choosing to have babies. We’re only talking about how much money women may or may not have to spend on safety features compared to men, and why, I’d remind them, not how much money they may or may not have in the first place. And, instead of quibbling about either, we could surely agree that is very not cool that women have to pay extra for the privilege of safety men take for granted (I might want to avoid that scary ‘p-word’ though), let alone be scammed. We could then talk next about what men and women should do to remedy that. In other words, be feminists, although I wouldn’t want to say that word yet either—I wouldn’t want them to realize they’ve been tricked yet.
Or, we could just move onto the next example (my emphasis again):
우리나라에서는 2018년부터 이러한 핑크택스에 대한 문제 제기가 있었다. 한 유명 아웃도어 브랜드에서 여성용 패딩의 충전량이 남성용의 절반밖에 되지 않지만 같은 가격에 판매되고 있다거나, 유명 패션 온라인 스토어에서 뒷주머니와 밴딩 처리 등을 없앤 여성용 슬랙스가 남성용보다 비싸게 판매되어 논란이 일었다. 같은 가격의 옷임에도 여성용으로 출시된 옷은 주머니가 너무 작거나 옷의 마감 처리가 허술하게 되어 있다는 취재가 이어졌다. 미용실에서 머리 커트 가격이 성별에 따라 다르게 책정되어 있는 것도 꾸준히 지적되어 왔다. 한국소비자원 사이트에 따르면 서울 지역 여성 커트 1회 평균 가격은 2만 1308원으로 남성 1만 1692원에 비해 약 1.82배 비싼 것으로 나타났다.
“In Korea, issues regarding the pink tax have been raised since 2018. Controversy arose when a famous outdoor brand said that women’s padding had only half the amount of padding as men’s but was sold at the same price. And, at a famous fashion online store, women’s slacks with no back pockets or banding were sold more expensively than men’s. Even though the clothes were the same price, there were continued reports that the clothes released for women had too small pockets or poor finishing. It has also been consistently pointed out that haircut prices at beauty salons are set differently depending on gender. According to the Korea Consumer Agency website, the average price of one haircut for women in Seoul is 21,308 won, which is about 1.82 times more expensive than 11,692 won for men.”
Source: Newsis.
This last one is meaningful to me, because I recall hearing on the radio as a student in Auckland, New Zealand in the late-1990s, that hairdressers were complaining about having to charge the same prices for men and women. It made complete sense to me then—women tended to have longer hair, and so took more time. And seriously, having finally learned in my 40s that it’s easier to persuade people by praising their intelligence and common sense first rather than by implying they have neither (I know right? Who’d have thought?), I’d point out that it was only much later, when I actually asked women about it (another secret feminist trait, I hear)—that I learned my mistake, and how unfair that was. So, us two in the elevator being total bros now you see, no-one’s going to be judging anyone for a natural mistake I once made myself.
Oh, why’s it a mistake you ask? My bad. Well, especially after the attack on a woman in Jinju in November 2023, targeted because her short hairstyle made her look like a feminist to her attacker, can anybody claim with a straight face that Korean women are just as free as men to have short hair?
Perhaps in turn, that could lead to a discussion about everything else appearance-wise women are expected to spend their time and money on?
Perhaps. But the new me knows when to end when the going’s good 😉
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