Something About Fathers

I read an interesting article in an English Korean Newspaper on the weekend:

Ministry stereotyping miffs fathers
April 30, 2005 ㅡ An attempt by the Gender Equality Ministry to educate children about discrimination against women in the home drew sharp criticism yesterday from people ― largely males ― who accused the ministry of mocking fathers. The uproar caused the ministry to apologize and delete Internet postings that described how mothers were discriminated against by fathers who use "low forms of speech when talking to their wives."The ministry apologized. "The postings were used as examples to help children understand the drawbacks of a patriarchal society," a ministry Web statement said yesterday. "They were habitual cases found in homes, but we agree that they could cause misunderstandings, so we are deleting the postings."The ministry said it had been devising ways since March to inform children about gender inequality.The result? The ministry posted 19 examples of how mothers were mistreated in their homes on its children's bulletin board.Some of the examples that the ministry cited included fathers always being praised by their mother-in-laws, while mothers tend to get criticized by their mother-in-laws.Another example was fathers never saying sorry when arriving late from work, while mothers had to apologize for not being home early enough.The list continued, talking about how fathers feel free to spend money, but mothers have to ask fathers for permission to use cash. "These postings are just mocking fathers," read one of the hundreds of postings that protested against the ministry's idea."Fathers are treated like ATMs at home after they come back from work, where they suffer at the hands of their bosses," a man, using the I.D. "Father," wrote in a posted message. "The ministry cannot blame fathers like this."