ESL-102. Prof. A. Martinez . 10-08-09.
The article “Group Resists Korean stigma for mothers on their own” written by Choe Sang-Hun describes how korean single mothers are discriminated for being unmarried mothers. In South Korean, women who are pregnant and unwed are forced by their families to get an abortion or to give their child for adoption. Moreover, the South Korean government, provides help for families who are willing to adopt but it doesn’t have any welfare programs for single mothers. In addition to that, these women are victims of social, family ,and financial pressure; receiving an unfair punishment by society, using culture as a poorly excuse to deprive them of their human rights. Consequently, the author who is also a single mother, states the difficulties she went through when she decided to keep and raised her baby by herself. In the process,she became a voice for all those women who have been in this same situation. Shortly after that, she joined efforts with people who were identified with this cause, starting a campaign to improve the rights of single women ,obtain welfare services for this minority ,and reduce their ostracism.
Finally, after reading this article, many thoughts came to my mind. First, parenting is extremely difficult in a two parents family setting but even more so in a single parent setting especially if that person doesn’t have a strong support system comprised of their own family, friends, neighbors,and society which is what is happening in this particular case. Secondly, people shouldn’t be socially, financially or morally discriminated for trying to raise their children on their own, Thirdly, prejudice and discrimantion can harm the victims and their children’s self concepts, suppress their potential and create stress in their lives. Nonetheless, cultural values are maintained even when people’s happiness is in jeopardy. However, in this and many stories, society punishes women for their mistakes making it difficult...