North Korean Women Earn Money, See Husbands Differently

On the 6th, the Ministry of Unification released a report on the ‘Perception of North Korea’s Economic and Social Reality’ based on the ‘Economic and Social In-depth Information Project’ conducted on 6,351 North Korean defectors from 2013 to 2022.

According to the report, 45.9% of defectors from 2016 to 2020 said there is a correlation between women’s market activities and the expansion of their status in the family. 17.2% and 12.8% of respondents said they were “somewhat higher in status than their husbands” and “equal to their husbands,” respectively.

Defectors have also reported instances of derogatory terms being used to describe the changing societal roles, with husbands being referred to as ‘useless dogs’ or ‘daytime lamps’ which do not function during the day.

In response to a question about gender equality, 74.9% of respondents said inequality still exists between men and women. Looking at the trend of responses, 79.3% said there was gender inequality before 2011, but it decreased to 70.6% after Kim Jong Un took power in 2012.

The Ministry of Unification said in the report, “The emergence of North Korean women as the main actors of marketization has led to changes in gender consciousness. After marketization, women took on the role of the actual head of the household, undermining the gender division of labor in the family and strengthening women’s authority.”

However, they also pointed out, “Even if the degree of gender equality in the family has improved significantly, the issue of gender hierarchy in the public area does not tend to be similar. North Korean women are still in an inferior position to men in a patriarchal culture. In this situation, it is not easy for women to play a leading role in society.”