Abstract

North Korean defectors in South Korea are the only available subjects today for an empirical study of gender role characteristics and gender egalitarianism of the North Koreans. One-hundred and fifty North Korean defectors, both female and male, and ages ranging from 14 to 62, answered a questionnaire which included Korean Sex Role Inventory and Korean Gender Egalitarianism Scale. The results revealed that North Koreans are more gender-typed in their gender role characteristics compared to South Koreans. Women showed significantly higher femininity scores than men, and men showed significantly higher masculinity scores than women, whereas South Korean data do not show much difference between women and men. With regard to gender egalitarianism, North Koreans showed more conservative attitudes compared to South Koreans, and men were more discriminating than women. The difference between North and South, however, were greater for women than men, and it was attributed to the rapid value changes toward gender egalitarianism among South Korean women. A close look at the items that North Koreans strongly agreed to showed a tendency to express progressive attitudes mostly on formal and institutional issues, and to show conservative attitudes on personal and private issues. In addition, the effects of age, education, and marital status on the gender role characteristics and gender egalitarianism of the North Koreans and directions for future research were discussed.