Pre-Wedding Concerns Post Gains Attention
A post by a woman worried that her boyfriend is ignoring her because of her parents' educational background has become a hot topic on the 3rd.
On the anonymous workplace community 'Blind,' a post titled "Is it okay for us to marry despite a big family background difference?" was uploaded on the 1st. Ms. A, who works at Lotte Duty Free, stated, "My boyfriend and I were college campus sweethearts, and he works at an LG affiliate."
She continued, "(My boyfriend) often makes remarks to me about the difference in our family backgrounds, so I asked him if our family is really that much lower compared to his."
According to Ms. A, her boyfriend's father retired from a mid-sized company office job, and his mother is a retired teacher with a college degree. Their assets total about 400 million KRW, combining a 300 million KRW apartment and 100 million KRW in cash, but they have a pension from the mother, so there is no worry about retirement.
On the other hand, Ms. A's parents are high school graduates; her father retired from a large company's production job, and her mother is a full-time housewife. Their assets total about 1.3 billion KRW, including a 700 million KRW apartment and 600 million KRW in cash. However, their pension consists only of 1 million KRW from the National Pension Service.
She said, "(My boyfriend) tells me that when you go to a marriage information company, assets aren't everything. Parents' jobs and educational backgrounds are also important," and he makes these comments in a subtly hurtful way. Ms. A added, "My friends say it's gaslighting," and asked for objective opinions.
Recently, on the anonymous workplace community 'Blind,' a post titled "Is it okay for us to marry despite a big difference in family background?" was uploaded. [Photo by Blind]
In response, workers commented, "That's nonsense about jobs. Nowadays, people with more assets are better. The woman is the one who's more valuable," "The woman is better. She has 600 million KRW in cash," and "The guy is really bad. Even if there is a difference, why does he keep saying that? Is that gaslighting to say I'm less valuable than you?"
Later, Ms. A added in the post, "My father retired and ran a business but lost almost all the assets, so I don't even know if we have 400 million KRW. The apartment is a 300 million KRW jeonse (long-term deposit), and the 100 million KRW in cash is what my boyfriend told me." She also said, "I wrote exactly what my boyfriend said, so I didn't put him down at all. Anyway, I've decided to break up, so all these comments are meaningless."
Higher Educated People Tend to View Marriage and Divorce More Easily
Meanwhile, according to Statistics Korea and industry sources, the lower the educational level, the higher the proportion of people who believe "marriage is a must."
In a survey on perceptions of marriage, 29.3% of those with elementary school education or less answered "must marry," the highest rate. In contrast, only 11.4% of those with a college degree or higher said the same, the lowest rate. The rates for middle school graduates (19.5%) and high school graduates (13.6%) were higher than those with college degrees or higher but lower than those with elementary education or less.
However, the proportion of people who think "it's good to marry" did not vary much by education level: 34.5% for elementary or less, 34.5% for middle school, 34.2% for high school, and 35.3% for college or higher, maintaining a level of 34-35% regardless of education.
Perceptions of divorce also showed that higher educated people tend to have a more liberal view. The response "Divorce should never happen for any reason" was lowest among college graduates or higher at 4.0%. It was followed by high school graduates (5.3%), middle school graduates (8.0%), and elementary or less (14.5%).
The response "Divorce should be avoided as much as possible even if there is a reason" was also lowest among college graduates or higher at 18.7%, followed by high school graduates (19.9%), middle school graduates (23.4%), and elementary or less (29.3%).
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