Women in North Korea - Contemporary Era

Contemporary Era

In contemporary North Korea, women are important for three reasons:

1. increasing production of material goods and services
2. reproduction in order to increase the population
3. ensuring that there is a long-serving and largely celibate army

To fulfill these expectations, women are expected to fully participate in the labor force outside the home. Apart from its ideological commitment to the equality of the sexes, the government views women's employment as essential because of the country's labor shortage. No able-bodied person is spared from the struggle to increase production and compete with the more populous southern half of the peninsula. According to one South Korean source, women in North Korea are supposed to devote eight hours a day to work, eight hours to study, and eight hours to rest and sleep. Women who have three or more children are permitted to work only six hours a day and still receive a full, eight-hour-a-day salary.