Being a single or under-resourced mother has always been hard in South Korea. Look no further than the fact that widespread transnational adoption started with Korean children in orphanages, many of whom had living mothers who could not keep a place in society or lacked the means to raise them on their own. The crisis worsened after the Korean War ended, leaving many women single but with children; since then, there's been enduring societal sigmas surrounding premarital sex and singledom in general for women. For all of its modernity, Korea remains a patriarchal, conservative society with limited options for single or unwed mothers or their children.
Who is helping?
- Every Mother & Child is a relatively new organisation that assists women with a crisis pregnancy situation, with a focus on immigrants. The group provides medical services and counselling, financial and legal assistance, and immigration help and also works to support multicultural families in one of the world's most homogenous countries.
- The Korean Unwed Mothers' Families Association, or KUMFA, originated from an online cafe by and for single mothers, with the goal of destigmatising nontraditional families. It educates, advocates for, and counsels women and has also established two shelters for mothers on their own.