Even Ae-sun became ‘village head’, “Were we taken in by When Life Gives You Tangerines?”···In reality, 90% of village heads in rural areas are still men - 경향신문

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In Netflix <When Life Gives You Tangerines>, Oh Ae-sun (played by Moon So-ri) becomes the first fishing village association head of Dodong-ri, Jeju Island. Netflix

Episode 7 of the hit Netflix series from last year, <When Life Gives You Tangerines>, features the ‘gourd’ you see at sports days. When the gourd is burst, a banner reading ‘Congratulations on the inauguration of Dodong-ri fishing village association head Oh Ae-sun’ flutters.

Ae-sun, bright from childhood, pushes aside Bu Sang-gil, a squid boat captain and local notable, and takes office as the first female fishing village association head.

In the drama, both the protagonist Ae-sun and her aunts are moved by her ‘ascension’ to fishing village association head. And Yeong-ran, the wife of rival Bu Sang-gil, casually confesses that she voted for ‘Ae-sun’.

Perhaps, after all, ‘a drama is just a drama’.

On the 8th, around the solar term Hanro, a farmer harvests rice with a combine in a paddy field in Miyang-myeon, Anseong, Gyeonggi Province. Yonhap News

On the 29th, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs compiled and announced exemplary cases and recommendations on gender equality in rural areas to ensure equal rights for women farmers and foster a gender-equal rural culture. The one-page leaflet will be distributed at the eup․myeon level through local governments and farmers organizations.

There is one core point in the leaflet. Because women account for only one in ten village heads across rural Korea, revealing a large gender imbalance in decision-making, the ministry will encourage changing the village head election custom from ‘one household, one vote’ to ‘one person, one vote’.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, as of the end of last year, women made up half of the farm population (49.8%), but only 11.6% of village heads were women.

Considering that women account for 76.3% of neighborhood chiefs in urban dong areas, the participation of women in decision-making is highly limited in rural communities.

The National Human Rights Commission has also pointed out this issue. In August, the commission conducted an ex officio investigation into gender discrimination in the selection and appointment of village heads. At the time, it suggested to the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and others that a standard set of village association bylaws should be developed and disseminated to address the gender imbalance in decision-making.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs is also promoting, as a key task of its basic plan to foster women farmers from this year through 2030, the ‘spread of gender-equal selection methods for village leaders’.

The current measures emerged in this context.

The ministry has recommended that villages shift their customary ‘one household, one vote’ method for electing village heads to ‘one person, one vote’. The National Human Rights Commission noted that while one household, one vote may appear formally ‘neutral’, given the rural tradition of men serving as the household representative, it can lead to indirect discrimination by limiting the voting rights of women and their opportunities to participate in decision-making.

“‘One person, one vote’ is a basic principle for hearing all village members evenly and deciding together. When the voices of a diverse range of residents, including women, are reflected evenly in village governance, issues closely tied to daily life can be addressed more attentively.”

The reality in fishing villages is even more stark.

According to the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives, as of July 2024, only 67 of the 2,079 fishing village association heads nationwide were women, just 3.2% of the total. Jeju Island, where there are many haenyeo (women divers), had a relatively high share of female association heads at 45.7%, but other regions had low proportions.

With the commission stepping in and the leaflet published, will things change going forward?

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs also released best practices on gender equality in rural villages.

In Samtae Village, Gokseong County, South Jeolla Province, voting rights were changed in the village rules to one person, one vote, and Geumak-ri in Jeju City revised its rules to require an equal number of men and women among appointed village management committee members. Dojang 2-ri in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, amended its rules to include the realization of gender equality and to ensure that neither sex exceeds 60% of the executive slate.

It also included the ‘standard provisions for gender-equal village rules’ proposed by the Jeju Gender-Equal Village Project Team, so that other villages can refer to them. The standard provisions stipulate one person, one vote for village voting rights and include a clause that at least 40% of appointed management committee members be women.

This year is said to be the ‘UN-designated Year of Women in Agriculture’. Let us look forward to whether the representation of women farmers can be strengthened.