Korea's official pregnant women's guide provoked ten thousand people to crusade: help her husband prepare meals and clothes before delivery and keep fit after delivery.

Although we have entered the enlightened and advanced 21st century, people can still feel the long way to go to achieve gender equality in society from a series of unreasonable "coquettish operations".

Recently, the Seoul government of South Korea was criticized by the public for an "outdated" guide for pregnant women, which caused quite a controversy.

In the website of Seoul Pregnancy Production Information Center, this guide for pregnant women divides the relevant information into three stages in detail: the first trimester (1 to 12 weeks), the second trimester (13 to 27 weeks) and the third trimester (28 to 4 weeks).

at first glance, some contents do sound practical and feasible, such as preventing sudden labor pains and entrusting the eldest child at home to relatives and friends in advance; Prepare two business cards in advance, one for home and one for pregnant women to carry with them.

But other suggestions, which sounded like "avoiding troubles for family members" and "getting back in shape as soon as possible after giving birth", undoubtedly touched the sensitive nerves of women.

Let's take a look at these controversial guidelines:

1. Don't give up doing housework at the beginning of pregnancy, because it can help to keep fit without extra exercise. For example, reaching forward when cleaning the floor helps to stretch the muscles of the back, shoulders and arms.

2. As the due date approaches, remember to clear out the expired food in the refrigerator to prevent family members from eating it by mistake, and prepare fast food such as fried sauce, curry and soup in advance, because the husband is definitely "not good at cooking".

3. Before production, check whether there are enough daily necessities such as soap, toilet paper and toothpaste at home to avoid inconvenience to family members.

4. Reserve clothes for the husband for 3 to 7 days, and ensure that the husband has clean clothes to wear after the pregnant woman gives birth and leaves the hospital.

5. Because you can't wash your hair immediately after delivery, remind pregnant women to remember to buy a hair band or hair ring to avoid looking unkempt after delivery.

6. After the child is born, you can hang small clothes in a place where you can easily see them. Whenever you want to overeat or exercise, look at them to urge yourself.

In fact, this guide for pregnant women has been published on the government website in 219, and its contents have been approved by the Korean Medical Association of Obstetrics and Gynecology, with the aim of "avoiding inconvenience to family members". It was not until recently that it was uploaded to the Internet that it caused an uproar.

A guide full of sexism has also been criticized by major media and netizens in South Korea because it reveals the government's stereotyped concept of the division of housework:

"Was this written by people in the 197s?" "What did I see? Is it really 221 now?"

"It's good to buy food, and it's good for the housework husband to worry about it. It's not that he can't or has no hands. People who have never been pregnant rarely pretend to understand there. Pregnancy and childbirth are very tiring. It is not easy to make money compared with husbands, and it is even more difficult for women to add up. "

"It's ridiculous. It's very hard to support yourself in the late pregnancy, and let pregnant women clean the refrigerator and prepare side dishes. Who is so ignorant?"

"Do they still think that married women are their husbands' nannies?"

"The government tries to sacrifice women's rights and interests, and wants to increase the fertility rate but ignores women's rights and interests."

"This is actually discrimination against men, right? How can you raise a child if you can't even cook your own food? It is women who have done everything for you, so there will be buying and selling marriages and being single until you are old. "

Some netizens even ridiculed the government that "this is simply encouraging singles".

However, some people say that the criticism of netizens has gone too far.

A 42-year-old lawyer who recently gave up his career and returned to family life said that it might be more useful if the tone of this guide was less like a middle-aged Korean man or an elderly Korean mother-in-law.

still disgruntled netizens launched a petition in Cheongwadae signed by more than 2, people, demanding that the Seoul government withdraw outdated pregnancy advice, publicly apologize and punish the relevant responsible officials. Some members of Congress also jumped out to criticize this guide.

Yong Hye-in, an activist and politician, sharply commented on Twitter, "A better strategy is divorce than marrying a man who doesn't throw away rotten food."

This is actually not the first time that the official guide of the Korean government has caused controversy. In 218, a "guide to sex education for high school students" issued by the local government stated that "girls must work hard on their appearance and boys must work hard to improve their financial resources" in order to find the perfect life partner.

It also points out that men who are generous in dating should be "compensated", otherwise there is a great risk of "dating rape"; If women are sexually harassed in transportation, it is suggested that they pretend to accidentally step on each other's feet instead of scolding each other.

At that time, the whole network was criticized for taking the lead in destroying the concept of gender.

Although Korea has become an economic power, we can see that the whole environment is unfriendly to women from this guide for pregnant women full of gender discrimination and gender stereotypes.

In the traditional social concept of Korea, pregnant women are not only considered as "incapable", but also considered as women's responsibilities in housework and child-rearing, and bear the double burden of family and workplace.

According to a report of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in 217, South Korea has the highest gender pay gap among its 37 member countries; The income of professional women is nearly 4% lower than that of men. Many women stop working after giving birth, usually under the pressure of family and workplace.

The film "Jin Zhiying Born in 1982" vividly shows the social pressure suffered by Korean women.

When you are a child, you should satisfy your father's expectation of a well-behaved daughter.

To form a family, we should meet the husband's expectations of a good wife and mother and a good housekeeping;

To be a mother, you should meet the expectation that your child will have a 24-hour stay-at-home mother.

From an early age, I was taught that "men's expectations should be met first at different stages", but the environment around me gave back inequality everywhere.

In the student days, the number of seats was ranked by boys, it was girls' own fault that they were bullied by male classmates, the admission rate of women in the workplace was less than 3%, and we had to bear with sexual harassment in the workplace. When we thought that these were just the plot of the film, a pregnant woman's guide full of discrimination against women pushed these dark sides to the public.

whether it's outdated pregnant women's guide or unfair treatment in the workplace, the strong reaction of the public to it also shows that the public's attitude is changing.

In the face of unfair treatment full of gender discrimination, there are both channels of public reprimand and a sense of equal rights, instead of letting women silently accept the high expectations given by "being a good wife and mother" as in the past, and taking "patience" and "giving" as their life motto.

The enlightened parents of this generation can also instill correct gender knowledge and awareness of equality in their children through words and deeds, so as to prevent them from learning biased and wrong concepts.

There are many obstacles to achieving gender equality, and the implementation of relevant laws and regulations in different countries may be put on the agenda. It is equally necessary for you, me and others to supervise, discuss and reflect in the whole society.

The most important thing is that as women, we should always be sober and conscious, respect ourselves and other women, and not easily accept gender labels given by others.