South Korea has been grappling with a low birth rate for years, but progress has been slow due to deeply entrenched gender inequalities and a strong anti-feminist sentiment that has persisted in politics and society.

South Korea is emblematic of East Asia’s well-documented coming demographic crisis. Yet while the issue has preoccupied successive governments, including that of current President Yoon Suk Yeol, their proposed policy responses have failed to address the root of the problem: the country’s still-pervasive traditional gender roles.