- Headline: "Op-Ed: Teenage Unwed Mothers"
- Source: Dong-A Ilbo
- Date of Publication: May 15, 1976
- Summary:
Teenage unwed mothers are on the rise, a phenomenon that follows the global trend of increasing sexual permissiveness. However, in our nation, the issue has grown particularly severe with the establishment of industrial complexes that house large numbers of young female workers. The situation calls for urgent and decisive measures. A study conducted by the Research Institute of Asian Women (Aseamunjeyŏn'guso) of Sookmyung Women's University, analyzing data from the Holt Adoption Program in Seoul, Daegu, and Incheon, reveals a staggering sixteenfold increase in unwed mothers over the past seven years. Alarmingly, their average age has also dropped by 15%. The primary causes cited for this rise are the formation of densely populated industrial zones and the growing number of runaway youth. Educationally, 31% of these young mothers have completed only elementary school. It is a plain and simple fact that young girls, lacking mature judgment, who leave their homes for factory dormitories and unstable living conditions, are at risk of making momentary mistakes that lead to lifelong consequences. Presently, institutions like the Holt Adoption Program provide limited financial assistance for childbirth and facilitate adoptions. 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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