Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982

Her career potential and areas of interest were being limited just because she had a baby. A feeling of helplessness quickly replaced the excitement she had felt.

Employers harassed them for ‘being inappropriately dressed’ or ‘not having the right attitude’, and held their wages ransom. Customers thought the right to harass young women came with their purchase. The girls stowed away repulsive, frightening experiences with males deep in their hearts without even realising it.

Why didn’t Jiyoung’s mother ever speak up? No one had shared this in detail with Jiyoung – not her mother, relatives, older friends, or even friends her own age who’d had children. The babies on television or in movies were all pretty and cute, and mothers were always portrayed as beautiful and noble. Jiyoung was responsible and equal to the task o

As the long labour continued, she felt like a Lego figure being twisted at an anatomically impossible angle and being separated at the waist,

She couldn’t win: exercising all the rights and utilising the benefits made her a freeloader, and fighting tooth and nail to avoid the accusation made things harder for colleagues in a similar situation.

‘Besides, I don’t know if I’m going to get married, or if I’m going to have children. Or maybe I’ll die before I get to do any of that. Why do I have to deny myself something I want right now to prepare for a future that may or may not come?’

baby’s clothes and fabrics, fed herself well so she would produce enough milk and cried far more than she’d ever cried in her life. Above all, she hurt all over.

Since she became a full-time housewife, she often noticed that there was a polarised attitude regarding domestic labour. Some demeaned it as ‘bumming around at home’, while others glorified it as ‘work that sustains life’, but none tried to calculate its monetary value. Probably because the moment you put a price on something, someone has to pay.

There were times when she had an inkling of a situation not being fair, but she was accustomed to rationalising things by telling herself that