Confronting their biggest challenge in a century, South Korea's women’s universities are embroiled in controversies that have led some to question their relevance in a society where gender equality in education is increasingly seen as having been achieved.

The issue gained significant attention recently when students at Dongduk Women’s University, one of South Korea’s seven remaining women’s colleges, protested against the school's consideration of a transition to coeducation. The debate has since spilled over to other women’s universities, including Sungshin Women’s University, where students staged protests against the admission of male students into the international studies department.

The debate over the schools' potential transition to coeducation has revealed broader issues facing women’s universities in South Korea, caught between the challenges of a demographic crisis and persistent gender bias.

The history of South Korea's women's educational institutions dates back to the 1880s when the country's first women’s university, Ewha Womans University, was founded in 1886 by an American missionary.

Under Confucian traditions, women’s colleges emerged as a response to the exclusion of women by male universities. At the time, male and female students were literally banned from sitting next to each other.

In post-war Korea, they flourished as institutions nurturing female elites. However, since the 1990s, financial challenges and shifting student preferences toward coeducational institutions have caused difficulties in student recruitment and fundraising. Once as high as 26, the number of women's colleges has dropped dramatically as they transition to coeducation or merge with other universities.r

Only seven four-year women's universities remain.

Dongduk Women’s University, like many institutions in South Korea, is grappling with a demographic crisis. The country’s declining birthrate has resulted in fewer college-aged students, forcing universities to consider mergers, closures or transformations to stay afloat.

"Thinking about the university's plans for 2040, the school was considering options to maintain the competitiveness of the school. Due to the declining school population, universities are having difficulty maintaining their current status. If we don't strengthen our competitiveness, our future is unclear at the moment," a Dongduk Women's University official told The Korea Herald.

Reverse discrimination

The administrators of universities are not the only ones supporting the idea.

The proposal has also gained support from some men, who question the necessity of women’s universities in an era they perceive as having achieved gender equality.

“Women’s universities at a time when the country has reached gender equality is reverse discrimination.e Prestigious programs like medical, pharmacy and law schools have significant quotas for women’s universities, and male students with better grades can’t even apply to these schools. It’s unfair,” Song Chang-woo, a 25-year-old student at Seogang University said.

Others point to the fact that women have better results in getting into universities.

In 2021, the university enrollment rate by gender among 1,814 general high schools was 76.8 percent for males and 81.6 percent for females, with females outperforming males by 4.8 percentage points.

However, experts argue that women's universities remain relevant in a society where true gender equality has yet to be achieved, emphasizing the need to rebuild trust to foster a better understanding of their significance.

The deep-rooted feeling of "reverse discrimination" cannot be detached from Korea's culture of fierce competition in education and educational rankings, an expert explained.

“Most women’s universities in Korea are located in Seoul, which has a significant symbolic status in the country,” said Kwon Kim Hyun-young, a professor of women's studies at Ewha Womans University's Women's Research Institute.

“For male students, the presence of six prestigious women’s universities in Seoul are perceived as a barrier, an unequal opportunity, as they cannot apply to these institutions. They feel like the limited enrollment quotas restrict their opportunities," Kwon Kim noted.

Such arguments have even led to constitutional lawsuits challenging the existence of women-only schools in the past -- claiming that men's right to education was violated by the Ewha Womans University law school's policy of admitting only women, and by Ministry of Education in allocating 320 seats for pharmacy students to women's universities. However, the courts sided with the institutions in both cases, recognizing their social role of producing qualified professionals and judging that the public interest outweighed the disadvantage to men.

Feminist backlash

The controversy is exacerbated by the polarized gender discourse in South Korea, where feminism often faces an angry response. Since the feminist movement gained prominence in the mid-2010s, it has drawn criticism from young men who perceive it as antagonistic.

“For male students, the defense of women’s universities comes across as a rejection of men,” said Kwon Kim. “This sentiment fuels frustration and contributes to the narrative that feminists are inherently anti-men.”

The “anti-feminism” trend has spread especially among men in their 20s and 30s, leading to the stigma that “women's college = feminist.” Online, the backlash has escalated, with some men expressing disdain for women’s universities, even mocking or denigrating women's colleges.

A user on Blind, an anonymous community for employees, wrote that “(we) reject resumes from women's colleges (because they might be feminists),” prompting the Ministry of Employment and Labor to investigate the company.

Some men express disdain for women’s universities and their graduates.

“I would never date a girl who graduated from a women’s university. Nowadays, many men, including me and my friends, shun girls from such schools on blind dates. I feel like women who go to women’s universities are feminists, and I don’t want to date someone who claims she’s a feminist,” a 31-year-old man told The Korea Herald.

Need for a safer place

In a society where feminism is not supported, students say the reasons for maintaining women's universities are more important than ever.

“There are many women-related liberal arts courses such as ‘Women and Labor’ and ‘Women's Psychology’ at Dongduk Women's University. We talk about feminism freely in class, but it would be difficult to even have such liberal arts courses in coed institutions," one student who wanted to stay anonymous said.

Alexine, a 22-year-old international student from France at Sungshin Women’s University, echoed this sentiment.

“I wouldn’t have applied for Sungshin Women’s University if it was a mixed-gender school. It doesn’t mean I’m hostile to men. At a women-only university, there is a greater chance of participating in educational programs about gender studies. Female students in fields dominated by men, like economics and engineering, can feel confident and openly discuss challenges unique to women,” she said.

Proponents of preserving women’s universities argue that these institutions provide a vital safe space for female students, especially in a social context marked by issues such as dating violence and digital sex crimes.

“Cases like the Nth Room scandal and incidents of non-consensual filming in universities have eroded trust between male and female students,” Kwon Kim explained. “Against this backdrop, it’s only natural that female students view women’s universities as safe havens.”

Moreover, women’s universities often outperform coeducational institutions in fostering female graduates’ professional success.

“Statistically, women from women’s universities have higher employment rates compared to their peers from coed institutions,” Kim noted. “This indicates that women’s universities may provide a more supportive environment that counters systemic discrimination found in coed universities.”

Some argue that the need for these institutions remains, particularly in light of persistent gender inequalities in upper management and workplace representation.

According to Hong Sung-soo, a law professor at Sookmyung Women's University, gender equality is not fully realized in terms of gender discrimination in employment, sexual harassment, sexual violence, and so on. If women's universities can make positive contributions in this area, there is still a sense of existence, he added.

Protesting harassment

Meanwhile, students have protested on the campus of Seoul Women's University, criticizing a professor who is accused of habitual sexual harassment against students.

After receiving the report in July last year, the school conducted an investigation and handed the professor a three-month pay cut as a disciplinary measure. In September, students protested the school’s decision, displaying signs that read, "Classrooms are not room salons," referencing an often illicit form of nightlife venue to condemn the professor's treatment of students as objects of entertainment and sexual exploitation.

"I don't know how someone who is supposed to educate students can use his authority to harass his students," a student at the feminist club who hosted the protest told The Korea Herald.

“The constant occurrence of hierarchical sexual crimes in schools is due to the school's unwillingness to address sexual violence on campus and its refusal to treat women as true students,” said a member of a feminist club at the school.

The mission of women's colleges has not been fulfilled, the students say. "We will disappear when equality is achieved."

Staff reporter Choi Jae-hee contributed to this article.

The Korea Herald is delving into the latest trends, transformative educational systems, and the campus cultures at South Korean universities, as they impact society in Korea and beyond. This is the second article in the series. -- Ed.