Backlash after Seoul advises pregnant women to look after their husbands during labour
The Seoul city government has come under fire for offering sexist tips for women on a website promoting childbirth, which included suggestions that they should prepare underwear for their husbands before going to hospital to give birth.
The guidelines, published on the “Seoul City Pregnancy and Childbirth Information Centre” website, aimed at providing tips on preparing for pregnancy, education on childbirth, and general information for both new or expectant mothers.
When the website launched in 2019, the city government said it would help “induce social interest” in overcoming South Korea’s low birth rate, which is currently the world’s lowest. The population declined for the first time in the country’s history in 2020.
The controversial content only came to light after going viral on social media earlier this month. The inappropriate parts have now been deleted.
The guidelines told women who were getting ready to go to hospital to “throw away the old food in the fridge and prepare 3-4 side dishes” and “prepare instant food such as instant curry so that your husband who isn’t good at cooking can conveniently prepare them”.
The tips also advised to prepare several days’ worth of underwear, socks, and shirts for the husband and children, and to check the remaining amount of daily necessities at home such as toilet paper and soap to make sure they are not inconvenienced by the mother’s absence while in hospital.
On physical appearance, the website said pregnant women must not put off washing the dishes and cleaning the house so that they do not gain weight. It also told women to hang up smaller clothes worn prior to marriage to motivate them to exercise after giving birth.
On social media, critics pointed that such anachronistic fixed gender roles were the very reasons women were putting off marriage and pregnancy, in what remains a largely patriarchal society. A petition on the presidential Blue House website demanding those responsible for the website to apologise and be punished gained over 20,000 after one day.
South Korean media report the guidelines were “supervised” by the Korean Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
