When Seoul’s Drugs Company Couldn’t Handle a Working Mom
Picture this: A fresh‑grad with a perfect GPA, flawless English, and the kind of charm that makes coworkers swoon – all that isn’t enough when the word baby pops up on her résumé.
Ashley Park’s Runt
Park walked into a Seoul pharmaceutical firm with her notebook full of case studies and her belly full of future plans. Nine months in, her boss delivers the cold shoulder: “There’s no slot at this company for a woman with a child, so you’re out.”
- All other women in the office? Single, childless, and mostly under 40.
- Park’s resignation? A near‑death sentence to her career, followed by five months of relentless office bullying.
She was barred from meetings, ignored like a phantom, and her husband— also an employee—was threatened with dismissal. After a half‑year of a verbal siege, she finally handed in her notice. Two weeks later, she welcomed a little daughter.
Putting her IT startup attempt to rest, Park became a stay‑at‑home mom, hoping to build a trading business someday. Yet her job interviews turned her into a ghost shadow every time she mentioned her child.
Park’s Frustrated Breakdown
“I studied hard, worked hard, when youth cluelessness was the norm. And now? What did I get?” She said to AFP.
At 27 she’s tackling a society that sings “birth more babies” while providing a 0.95 fertility rate and a # 8 economy that’s a fiscal juggernaut.
The “Birth Strike” that’s Hurting Korea
Since 2018, for the first time, the tendency for Korean women to have children is below 1.0 — the shockest indicator that the nation’s population might crash in 2028.
- Reasons? Child‑rearing costs, sky‑high youth unemployment, endless work hours, shortage of daycare, and the weighty expectation for mothers to also shoulder the house chores.
- Patriarchy shows up: 85% of men think women should work, but only 47% would let their wives do the same.
- Employment disparity: 82% for married men vs. 53% for married women.
Almost 75% of women aged 20‑40 pick “marital independence” over “marriage.” Yet, the Korean family unit still leans heavily on wedlock for procreation.
Police Nipping the Mouse, Not the Root
Here’s what the Korean government rolled out: millions of won in subsidies, more daycare, letting kids under eight free up one extra hour a day, and expanding paid parental leave to ten days for fathers. All of this is essentially hand‑outs with zero penalties if companies renege.
Critics call it a “fiscallously weak” strategy. The Korea Women Workers Association, for instance, slammed the plan as a “money‑only fix.”
In short, until the real barriers — sexual discrimination, job insecurity, and cultural double‑burden — are squashed, no pile of subsidies will encourage a person to choose motherhood.
Wrapping It Up
Ashley Park’s story tells a plain truth: South Korea is like a high‑school cafeteria buff where the kids love the drama, but the staff refuses to let anyone give up the hot lunch that leads to future health, yet the cafeteria still picky on the kids. Stop hunger isn’t there. If the government wants a robust birth rate, it must earn salary, understand the unconventional terms of work, and put a seat at the table for parents.
