Kim Jiyoung is in her early thirties, but has survived a lifetime absorbing the injustices of modern society quietly — a promotion that goes to a male colleague, a career paused for a baby and a mother apologizing for having daughters. On an ordinary evening, Kim Jiyoung realizes there is nothing else beyond her current life, and the only way to avoid being silenced is to speak using other women’s voices, first her own mother’s, then a friend’s who had passed away. When the husband asks “What is wrong with her?”, the reader sees a new perspective and face an unsettling doubt: Is this scenario real?
That is the premise of Cho Nam-Joo’s book “Kim Jiyoung, born in 1982”, a fiction novel that can be easily translated into reality. Cho wrote all female characters as a composite of real and unremarkable South Korean women. The book soon became a success as it helped the 4B movement – a wave of women rejecting dating, marriage, sex and childbirth — to be seen as an important rebellion against the system that often tries to erase their names.
Women’s rights are younger than you think
The scariest fact that is shown in the title of Cho’s work is that the rights aren’t part of any ancient history. Quite the opposite, the rights that let women exist as a legal, economic, and political subject — to work, to vote, to own properties, to leave marriage — are, on a scale of human history, barely a few generations old — meaning they were just built and can be destroyed easily. It happened in the United States in 2022, when the Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade after almost 50 years, in other words, the court took away the rights and the liberty of an abortion, a fundamental right according to the amendments. It reveals that women’s rights were never really secured and now are slowly disappearing with little to no explanation.
The fight for women’s rights is going backwards
For most people, it is obvious that the world is facing a conservative wave, one that changes how gender roles are viewed. What is less obvious is how quietly the backsliding is actually happening. It doesn’t arrive as a headline, but a secret policy rewritten.
The numbers back this up. A recent UN report, marking 30 years since the Beijing Declaration, found that in the last couple of years, nearly a quarter of governments surveyed reported backsliding on women’s rights, a consequence of rising threats and shrinkage of funding for programs meant to protect women.
None of this is new, and that might be the key point. In 1991, Susan Faludi published “Backlash”, arguing that setbacks for women aren’t some rare malfunction towards equality, they are a predictable response to progress itself. Faludi’s thesis said that every single time women get closer to equal rights, a backlash follows and it is often disguised as concern, tradition or a new kind of “choice”.
How can we advocate for women’s rights today?
To fight for women’s rights, first start by pushing back the idea that going against a backlash requires something big and dramatic. Part of how this backsliding works is by convincing people that progress is settled. Smaller and sustainable actions can be very valuable.
Track legislation in your own country and keep up with international news. Learn which organizations are actively working for women’s safety, and support them, through donations, volunteering, or simply spreading the word.
And just as importantly, never forget to use your voice and vote. Remember you still have rights, so use them to ensure you continue to have them.
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This article was edited by Rafaela Navarro.
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