PEOPLE AND CULTURE - Living Abroad in South Korea - page 38

of disagreement or an embarrassing scene. To Westerners born and raised on notions of
straight talk and speaking their minds, face can be an alien—and infuriating—invention,
while South Koreans find the foreign insistence on being frank and verbalizing emotions
odd if not downright rude.
Closely connected to the concept of chemyeon is nunchi, which literally means “eye
measure” but is better translated as the ability to accurately gauge the mood of a person
( kibun ) or the atmosphere of a place or situation ( bunuigi ). Someone with nunchi is quick
to react to nonverbal cues and will act in a way that ensures the “face” of those around them
and a harmonious atmosphere are maintained. Saying someone possesses good or “quick”
nunchi is a very great compliment, and remarking that someone lacks it is basically another
way of saying they're socially inept.
If a Korean feels their chemyeon has been lost or the norms of nunchi disregarded, things
can disintegrate very quickly, and the legendary national temper makes its way to the sur-
face. The public displays of anger and shouting matches occasionally seen on the streets of
Seoul usually begin over a perceived lack of respect or loss of face; thankfully these are
almost always more bluster than substance, and most locals settle down as quickly as they
get worked up.
Gender Roles
Women have made significant strides over the last few years, but as a whole South Korea is
still very much a male-dominated place and is given low rankings on international gender
equality indexes. Much of this has to do with the legacy of Confucianism, which elevated
men to the superior position and taught that the place of women—especially mothers—was
in the home. Traditionally in any marriage the man was the breadwinner, and the woman
was responsible for caring for the children and keeping the house in order—an arrangement
that still dominates today. Many women give up their careers as soon as they have their first
child, and many local companies remain reluctant to hire all but the youngest women since
women are widely expected to abandon a job as soon as they get pregnant.
However, women have always been far more influential than they appeared—they nor-
mally have complete control of the family finances, for example—and the old structures
are rapidly breaking down as young women demand more freedom and rising costs make
two-income families a necessity. There's a sizable and increasingly vocal population of fe-
male business leaders, and in late 2012 the country voted in its first female president, Park