Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Adventurer]

It seems like I hear of schools looking for females and having a hard time finding a female. I take it, far less females want to come to Korean than the males. Do you think that's true? And if it is true, do you think it has to do with some women being wary of going to a country alone where they don't speak the language and don't know what to expect and are less likely to be interested in a Korean chap? Just some thoughts. I do see some females in Korea, but I wonder what the ratio is to males.

[jmbran11]

I don't think there is any shortage of foreign females in Korea. They outnumber the guys at my company 3:2. There is just more of a demand for female teachers, for reasons I'm not quite sure of. Koreans tend to think of teaching as women's work, especially for children.

And, I don't think women are more afraid to adventure off on our own. I've done it several times. There are endless adventurous, independent, capable foreign women roaming around this country. If there are less women yearning to come to Korea, it's probably because we are just less desperate to try to bang (or marry) Korean chics, which seems to be a major draw for many of the single guys who come here, judging by the endless posts on this board relating to the subject.

[oneofthesarahs]

I think that Korean mothers in general tend to feel more comfortable with female teachers than male teachers. One of the moms at my school is paying the big bucks to have one-on-one English lessons for her kid. She's learning the same things as the other classes her level, but she gets individual attention. One of her stipulations: female teacher only. I guess the thought of having her young daughter being alone with a male teacher creeped her out.

Even in America, there's sort of the idea of the inappropriate male teacher. Some people just find it creepy to have a young guy teaching pre-teen/teenage girls (despite the Mary Kay Letourneaus out there, I guess). I assume there might be a similar mentality in Korea?

[Delirium's Brother]

[jinks]

I understand that as many women as men come to Korea to teach English, but men are more likely to stay for subsequent teaching contracts than women. If you look around, there sems to be more foreign men with Korean women than vice versa; I know there are notable exceptions, but it does seem to be the rule.
There is perhaps a more even ratio of male and female newbies, but males are more likely to stick around.

[Paji eh Wong]

A friend of mine did a survey of native teachers in Korea last year. 65% male, 35% female, n = 80. Maybe not representative, but not out of the ballpark either.

[jajdude]

[Atavistic]

A couple weeks (months?) ago someone asked if Canadians seemed over-represented here. Someone else came out with some E2 statistics. No amount of searching or Googling has made me find the thread, but I seem to recall the statistics being split out by both nationality and gender.

Does anyone else remember this thread?

I seem to remember there were more men here. I know more male foreigners here than female ones.

As for women being afraid or less adventuresome, well, I'll just quote Jan Haag. Yes, yes, she mentions America, but I think it applies to many, many countries.

[Ya-ta Boy]

[Adventurer]

[qcat79]

i think it may have to do with the whole "females being nesters, men being hunters" thing. you more than likely will always see a male travelling alone than a female. females always tend to want to be paired up with someone, especially like making a huge life change to an overseas country. i do like the chicks here that do take that chance and come here and work though.

i would be an awesome idea if that survey was expanded to say, 1000 people? i'm also very interested in the ratio of canadian/american/bristish/aussie/kiwi/south african teachers here.

hey, i'm up for the challenge. surveys are awesome!!

[jinju]

easy explanation. Girls are wimps who are afraid to leave home alone. With a boyfriend they might come, alone, thats a rarity.

[jmbran11]

As I mentioned, there are twice as many foreign females teaching at my company as foreign males. With the exception of me, all of the women are single and many have been here more than 3 years.

Maybe they just don't hang out at the same places where you "see" people, like the bars in Itaewon. Most of them have active social lives that don't revolve around drking. I've traveled three continents alone, and would say on average I meet as many single (western) women traveling as men. I think all of your assumptions are bunk. It is possible that Western women may settle down here less (meaning marry Koreans), but I have no real data to back that up.

[Adventurer]

[The Hammer]

I wish there were about 3.5 million more of them here.