- Headline: "Rising Number of Unwed Mothers as Sexual Morality Declines"
- Subheading: 2,214 Cases Reported in Three Major Cities
- Source: Kyunghyang Shinmun
- Date of Publication: January 27, 1977
- Summary:
The number of unwed mothers is increasing. According to the Holt Children's Services on the 27th, a total of 2,214 unwed mothers sought counseling at the organization’s counseling centers in Seoul, Busan, and Daegu in 1976. This marks a 34 percent increase compared to the previous year. Among them, teenagers account for 5 percent, while the rest include a wide range of young women, from factory girls to university students. This rise is attributed to urbanization and industrialization, coupled with a lack of proper sex education, declining moral values, and poor working conditions for young female laborers. Most of these women became pregnant after running away from home, or they fled their homes after becoming unwed mothers. At present, there are only four facilities nationwide that provide shelter and care for them: Salvation Army Yŏjagwan (a home for single mothers), House of Happiness (run by Social Welfare Services, now Korea Welfare Services), Catholic Women's Vocational School (Kat'ollikyŏjagisurhakkyo), and Busan Women's Welfare Center (Busan Punyŏbokchigwan). This statement implies the necessity of expanding facilities for unwed mothers. In the 1970s, media reports about the rise in unwed mothers spread widely, accompanied by the active production of a narrative that depicted young women from impoverished families—particularly those who were young (teenagers), uneducated (from factory towns), and influenced by sexual curiosity—as the primary group becoming unwed mothers. This discourse, which framed unwed mothers as stigmatized individuals and subjects in need of prevention, was largely produced and disseminated by adoption agencies. In the early 1970s, the Christian Adoption Program of Korea (CAPOK) was a central figure in this discourse. From the mid-1970s onward, after CAPOK's integration into Holt in 1975, the four major government-authorized overseas adoption agencies were Holt Children's Services, Social Welfare Services (now known as Korea Welfare Services), Korea Social Service, and Eastern Child Welfare Society (now known as Eastern Social Welfare Society). Scholars and the media also contributed to this framework by publishing studies that reinforced its legitimacy, while the government responded by developing a welfare system for unwed mothers and their children, including the expansion of shelters for unwed mothers. As a result, the number of babies adopted from unwed mothers increased dramatically, rising from 1,163 in the 1960s to 9,075 in the 1970s.
Reference: Hee Jung Kwon. The Birth of Unwed Mothers: The History of Exiled Mothers (unofficial translation). Antonia’s Books, 2019.
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