- Headline: "Unwed Mothers, Continues to Grow in Number"
- Source: Kyunghyang Shinmun
- Date of Publication: January 17, 1975
- Summary:
The Christian Adoption Program of Korea (CAPOK) has released a report titled A Study on the Realities of Unwed Mothers and Adoption, based on counseling sessions conducted between December 1973 and November 1974. The report reveals that the number of counseling cases involving unwed mothers increased from 687 in 1973 to 724 in 1974. Among these, 581 were unwed mothers, while the remaining cases involved 80 married women, 23 widows, and 23 divorcees. The report also sheds light on the fathers of these children, identifying 418 as bachelors and 188 as married men. Most cases involved women being deceived by married men who promised to divorce their wives, only to flee once the woman became pregnant. This starkly highlights the irresponsible ethical attitudes of adult men.
The age range of the women reveals that 55% were between 20 and 24 years old, marking this as the most vulnerable age group, while 16% were as young as 14 to 19, including teenage girls. In terms of occupation, 35% were jobless, 14% were maids, and 13% were factory girls. Only 28% lived in their own homes, with the majority having run away, further identifying running away from home as a key factor in women’s moral decline. The length of relationship leading to pregnancy was most commonly one to two years, but notable cases include 20 women who conceived within less than a month and 14 who became pregnant in less than a week, underscoring the alarming decline in sexual morality. Exactly one year prior, on January 17, 1974, the Christian Adoption Program of Korea (CAPOK) released findings from a survey of 250 unwed mothers who had utilized its counseling services. The report characterized unwed mothers as predominantly young, poorly educated, and largely runaways, while problematizing their so-called sexual promiscuity. A year later, on January 17, 1975, CAPOK presented another statistical report on unwed mothers who had sought counseling at its facilities. In this subsequent study, the broader context surrounding unwed pregnancies and childbirth disappeared, replaced instead by demographic data and numerical representations that once again framed unwed mothers as young, poorly educated, ignorant, and sexually deviant runaway girls.
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