Welcome to BASE21

By Baek Ji-hyun, Reporter of The Konkuk Bulletin
white074@hotmail.com

One man and his son were in a car accident on their way home. As a result of the car crash, they were taken to hospital in an ambulance immediately. One doctor walked up to them to give first aid and the doctor was astonished at the boy. The doctor stared at him in wonder and said to him, "Oh, aren't you my son?". What happened? What do you think about that affair? Undoubtedly, the father of the boy is the man who was in bed next to him after car accident. Who is his real father? Does he have two fathers? Is this what you are thinking about this affair? If so, a fixed idea toward sexual awakening is deeply rooted in your mind. It is a thought that doctors are male naturally. Here is the answer. The doctor who recognized that the boy as the doctor's son in the hospital was the boy's mother, and the occupation of his mother was that of a doctor.
As we can see in that short story, we in Korean society have in mind fixed ideas about sexual roles, and furthermore, unequal attitudes toward males and females generally. And we live in many social systems which have many problems something like these without any special exceptions. Remaining vestiges of the notion of preferring a son to a daughter have been handed down from traditional society... In a lot of cases women's rights were ignored by men... These things exist still now in Korean society. From this point of view, women's efforts to recover women's rights have been occurring. These days, women are in action to raise the present status of Korean women : movement against a levy on value added tax on hygienic bands, the Menses Festival that is performed every year, the abolition campaign for the head of the family system, and the movement to use the parents' family names together. We are about to look into the campaign to abolish the head of the family system which is being pushed by women these days. What is that system? What is the problem with it? Is there any solution?

1. What is the Head of the Family System?
Defining the structure of a family, this is a way of constituting a family on the basis of who is head of a family. The head of a family means the person who can support his family, especially, in Korea, the word 'the head of a family' implies naturally that only men can be the head of a family. As a procedural law, there is the Family Registration Act. This is a legal system that discloses one's identity as the head of a family system. In one census register, identical details of all members of a family are registered and the standard for that is based on who the head of that family is. In other words, all members' identities can be cleared by stating the interrelationships based on who is the head of a family.

2. What Are the Problems of This System?
This system sets a basic principle that, if the head of a family dies, the order of succession to become the head is as follows : son - grandson - unmarried daughter - wife - mother [Section 984 of the Civil Law]. The idea that the son is more important than the daughter is involved in that principle by setting the son before the daughter. From inside the family to the whole of society, this law implants the notion that men hold priority over women, and this instigates people to prefer sons to daughters. And the fixed idea only a male can be the head of a family is considered the norm and is the mode for the only real family. From this comes discrimination against imperfect families - families which suffer a divorce, families of widowed mothers, families which remarry and so on-may occur, too. This system cannot accept new types of families, an increasing trend nowadays.

3. Alternative Plans Against This System
A remedy for the Family Registration Act after abrogation of the head of a family system is discussed in the form of 3 solutions. The first is to eliminate the head of a family and record the relationship between two generations : parents and children. The husband is not the head of a family as he is now and there would be no the head of a family. If this can be accomplished, divorced women could make a new register of identification and could add her children's name to it. The second is that each person would have his own register of identification. Namely, we can record the details of our identity(birth, marriage, death, etc.)on the basis of ourselves. By recording the names of one's families, spouses, children, we can also know our relationship by blood and marriage. What is the third option? There are two registration systems for people now in Korea : One is the Family Registration System and the other is the Resident Registration System. As there are some differences between the Family Registration System and the Resident Registration System, these two ways combine to fulfill both functions. These three ways are discussed, but abolition of the head of a family system that has been prescribed for our families for hundreds of years is a very sensitive and important issue, so we need to undertake cautious considerations about alternative plans.

The Constitution declares that the dignity of the individual and equality of the sexes are the best values in marriage and family life. We are all members of a family and we are living behind the fence of the name 'family', so the Family Law may influence the consciousness and deeds of people. In this context, the rule that defines that the head of a family is succeeded by a son symbolizes that men hold priority over women. This is not in harmony with the Constitution as stated above. Divorced women and remarried women are increasing as time goes by, but the head of a family system can't go with this tendency. Her children have no method of moving their census register following their divorce or the remarriage of mothers because of the paternalistic system. The serious problem of imbalances in terms of sex ratios is caused by a system in which women can't be the head of a family. The real meaning of the abrogation campaign for who is the head of a family is to do away with that old-fashioned system and make a new system keeping up with the current of the times.