The Everywoman, Kim Jiyoung

One of my favourite reads this semester is Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo. This book caused quite the sensation in Korea when it was published in 2016 – couples have broken up over the contents of it, and celebrities have come under fire for promoting the reading of it. Curious about what was so controversial about the life of a Korean millennial woman, I read it for myself.

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo

Summary

Kim Jiyoung is a housewife in her thirties living with her husband and her one-year-old daughter. The story begins with her husband’s observation of her exhibiting strange behaviour – namely impersonating other women, while being completely unaware that she is doing so. When this new development causes Jiyoung to commit a social mishap at her in-law’s house, Jiyoung’s husband sees the severity of the situation and arranges for her to see a psychiatrist. 

The rest of the book is Jiyoung’s life chronicled and neatly catalogued, from her childhood to her foray into early adulthood. As we witness her growing up, we also read a detailed and clear account of the kinds of obstacles and difficulties Jiyoung and the women around her face, at every stage of their lives, for the sole reason that they are born female. 

From the early beginning of their schooling, girls are subject to heavy social conditioning. How they dress is strictly policed – they must wear skirts and pinchy dress shoes, while the boys get away with wearing comfortable sports shoes and t-shirts, because, as explained by the school discipline master, boys are inherently more physically active, and one could not expect them to button their shirts up fully or wear dress shoes. When a male classmate bullies Jiyoung, her homeroom teacher justifies his behaviour as him having a crush on her, “boys being boys”.

Things do not get better for Jiyoung once she enters the workforce. She experiences a brief period of elation after she manages to secure a job in a mid-sized marketing company. She seems to excel at her job, but after some time, she comes face to face with sexual harassment and company regulations that act as glass ceilings for women.

Following this comes marriage, and Jiyoung is quickly pressured by her in-laws and her husband to have children. However, once she becomes pregnant, she is shamed for being so. Her male coworkers bemoan all the privileges she will receive at the office – while conveniently failing to acknowledge how exhausting and stressful pregnancy is. Determined to avoid appearing as a freeloader, Jiyoung forgoes the privileges she has at the office as a pregnant woman, before realising that she is setting a harmful precedent for the working pregnant women after her. 

Jiyoung explained to the best of her ability how she felt: anxious as to whether she’d be able to keep her career after having a baby, guilt over already thinking about having someone else look after their child. Daehyun listened attentively and nodded at the appropriate moments.

“Still, think about what you’ll be gaining, not just what you’ll be giving up. Think how meaning and moving it is to be a parent. And if we really can’t find someone to look after the child, worst-case scenario, don’t worry about quitting your job. I’ll take care of us. I won’t ask you to go out and make money.”

“And what will you be giving up, Oppa?”

“What?”

“You said don’t just think about what I’ll be giving up. I’m putting my youth, health, job, colleagues, social networks, career plans, and future on the line. No wonder all I can think about are the things I’m giving up. But what about you? What do you lose by gaining a child?”

Like Jiyoung’s husband, the rest of the men in the novel seem blithely unaware of the privilege of being born male into a society that values one’s maleness. Even Jiyoung’s male psychiatrist, who claims to have understood her plight after studying her case, reveals otherwise in the dismaying twist of an end-liner. 

My thoughts

I felt mostly angry while reading this book. The Korean society illustrated on these pages sends a clear message: that females are inherently inferior to males. Despite the novel being set in Korea, the incidents experienced or witnessed by Jiyoung were not unfamiliar or unheard of to me – some of them even relatable. Although it is a work of fiction, Cho grounds the narrative sharply in real facts – perhaps alluding to the sentiment that the testimony of a woman alone does not hold enough weight – citing statistics and studies that provide empirical evidence that proves on paper that gender inequality does, in fact, exist.

Cho never does explain how Jiyoung is able to impersonate the other women so uncannily – how she is able to quote their personal life experiences and mimic their quirks perfectly, as if from memory. However, if you suspend your disbelief, I think the phenomena makes for a good statement: the voices of women, dead or alive, speaking out loudly against gender injustice. Kim Jiyoung represents all women. Her life history, as depicted in this novel, the process of birth-school-work-marriage-children-housewife is a pretty common trajectory for females. Her name was the most common Korean female name from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. Kim Jiyoung is an Everywoman, which is scary, now that I think about it. Before the publishing of this novel, how many voices around the world went about unheard and unnoticed every day, stifled by and suffering silently under misogynistic systems? What are the stories that we tell ourselves (or let ourselves be told) about gender?

Life Cycle of a Woman, Shutterstock

Life Cycle of a Woman, Shutterstock

I recommend Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 to everyone who is a female or knows one in their lives. It is a relevant read for all. A big thank you to translator Jamie Chang too, for bringing this gem of a book to English users worldwide.

By: Shauna Cheong, ReadNUS Editorial