Poll Analyzes What Korean Women Want

Seven theses released in the 2005 Winter Symposium of the Korean Female Psychology Society (KFPS), held on December 3 at Chung-Ang University, Seoul, demonstrate the radical changes in married and single women’s thoughts and attitudes on sex and marriage, conflicts between daughters-in-law and mothers-in-law and other family affairs.

In line with the release of the theses, the Dong-A Ilbo and NateOn, an instant messaging service of SK Communications, conducted a joint survey of 12,835 women from early December through December 8. The results of the survey prove that single women’s love and sex values are more practical than being “good-looking-centric” to the extent that they seem somewhat wily.

Assuming that their possible spouses are quite the same in other conditions such as personality, educational background, and age, 85.4 percent of the respondents said they would weigh “economic capabilities” more than “appearances.”

Among 9,588 single women who were asked whether “single men and women need to find out if they are sexually well-matched before marriage,” those who said “yes” (58.9%) surpassed those who said “no” (41.1%) by a ratio of 6:4.

According to the “Sex Values of Married Women,” the thesis of Professor Sung Han-gi of Daegu Catholic University released in the symposium, one out of five married women are “desperate housewives.”

The thesis conducted a survey on 452 married women with an average age of 38.4, including participants of cultural courses held by department stores, teachers, bank tellers and housewives. A total of 16.8 percent of those surveyed said they “have been considering divorce or separation for the last three years.” while 7.1 percent said they “want to divorce their husbands.”