gender/booze/work

Yesterday at school, one of the teachers sitting next to me smelled so much like booze I thought me might actually be flammable. And while I wouldn't put it past a teacher to be drinking at work, I'm not sure if this was from current consumption or from the night before.

In Korea, it is VERY common for whole companies to go out together several times a week. The Boss determines how much everyone drinks and in order to move up in the country, people do what the Boss says. I should correct that - all the MEN go out together several times a week, and once in a while the women come along for part it.

If in order to be promoted you have to hang out and drink with the boss, but women aren't supposed to do that...

Yeah.

At my regular school, there are no women in leadership positions - not one department head or head teacher.

The country school is different, and both this year and last the Head Teacher (for the whole school) is a woman, but that is VERY rare.

I know this isn't a whole lot different from deals being made on the golf course, or people getting a job by "who you know" in the US, but it just seems so blatant and unfair. Women do all the setting up and cleaning up and cooking (or ordering of food) for all the school events. Men stand around and drink/make each other drink. In groups of women the older women telling the younger what to do, but often it doesn't have a direct effect (or a significant effect) on job success (except for the appearance of getting along with others and being part of the group, which really is pretty important, now that I think about it...)

I don't know where I am going with this, but after talking about International Women's Day with my adult workshop last week and a huge increase in the number of men in the teacher's room I am in, I've been paying a lot more attention to the ways people are promoted and the implication of gender in that process. (Also, an aside, I'm pretty good a guessing what is going on based on context and catching a few words here and there, so i'm getting better at figuring out what is going on. Anyway.)

Sometimes I am reminded that only about 60-70 years ago South Korea was granted independence and the speed of societal change has been astounding in that time. But it is frustrating to talk to Korean women and hear them say that they don't want to get married until they have done "x" so that their husbands won't tell them they cannot do it. And I'm not exaggerating.