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The summit members welcome a one-day guest named Blair from Australia. He majored in Korean in Australia and went to Korea to further his studies.
It's time for the Global Cultural Conversation.
Today's topic is country borders around the world.
- Julian says that a lot of fun situations happen in Belgium because there are a lot of countries on its borders. The city Baarle is actually divided between Belgium and the Netherlands. Streets are divided by a line so one can actually cross over the border by walking. Even restaurants are divided by lines. There's no problem going over borders (no passport is needed) because Belgium is part of the European Union. Julian says that the entrance of some restaurants are in Belgium and the exits are in the Netherlands.
- Daniel talks about the Dreilandereck, where three country borders meet. The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany meet at that place. He says that if you live near the border, then it's really easy to move from one country to another. On a whim when you are in Germany, for example, you could decide to get chocolates from Belgium and it would take only a short time to get there.
- Blair says that since Australia is an island, there are no country borders.
- Sam says that at Ghana's borders, there are doors that one must pass through to go from one country to another. You do need a passport to go through the doors.
- Enes says that there are eight countries surrounding Turkey. He gives a short history lesson on past wars between Turkey and Greece. To stop the fighting, Turkey agreed to give its islands to Greece if Greece stops trying to take Turkish land.
- Guillaume asks where the famous Troy is and the MC's comment that even European people don't know where famous cities in Europe are located. This leads somehow into an argument that Americans are the worst at knowing country locations. Tyler argues back that there are Americans who are like that, but not everyone is like that. Tyler asks if Europeans know where American states are located. There's no need for Americans to know European countries' locations as there is no reason for Europeans to know where American states are located. Haha, now the Europeans are saying they always get European countries' locations mixed up.
- Alberto says Italy is a peninsula and there are four countries on its northern borders. There are mountains on the northern borders so one can hike into another country. There are two countries inside Italy. Once is the famous Vatican City. Although not technically a country, it is a country in almost every aspect. The other is the Republic of San Marino. People in San Marino use a different currency and different stamps.
- There are many countries at the border of China. Zhang says that there used to be a lot of fighting because of the borders. He says that he's jealous of the European Union..
- America shares borders with Canada and Mexico. In the border with Mexico there is a dam that divides the countries. There are people who try to cross the border by climbing or making a tunnel. The border between the United States and Canada is the longest in the world. There's actually an opera house on the border and it's divided, like restaurants in the city Baarle. A passport was not needed back then, but since 9/11 security measures were heightened and passports are needed.
- France shares borders with eleven countries. There were a lot of border disputes due to the locations of rivers and mountains. Daniel says that after World War II, since Germany was wrong the government gave France land to settle the border dispute.
Zhang says that he was moved by Daniel's statement that Germany was wrong in World War II. He hopes that Asia will one day be like European countries and there would be no need for passports to travel within Asia.
The MC's conclude the conversation by saying that they hope the world will become more united.
The Korean Representative is Bobby Kim and the Japanese Representative is Sayuri. Bobby Kim is a singer of 20 years. Sayuri is a famous foreign entertainer known for speaking Korean fluently. She complains that her workload decreased due to Abnormal Summit, ha.
Bobby Kim and Sayuri read today's agenda:
I am a female who has been working for a company for ten years. I pushed off marriage and lived solely for work for ten years. Strangely, promotions for me are far slower than they are for my male co-workers. At first, I thought I got passed over for promotions due to my lack of skills, but I now feel that I am discriminated because I am a woman. I asked my sunbaes and they said there has never been a woman in a high position at that company. I want to quit my job because I feel discriminated. Am I abnormal?
Sayuri, Robin, Alberto, Zhang and Daniel pressed their buttons to signal that the woman is abnormal.
Alberto says that sexism does exist in companies. It's impossible to get rid of it. He thinks that the woman should work harder and overcome sexism in the office. Even though she quits at one company, she will face sexism again in another company.
Sam asks what if the woman worked for thirty years for the same company. Julian says it's not a problem that the woman can solve by herself.
Blair asks, "Since nothing changed for the woman for ten years is there a possibility that there will be change in the future?" No matter how much effort you put in you don't get rewarded then there's no reason to work.
Daniel says that he wouldn't want the woman to change jobs because that means that she is giving up. He would rather her stay and work there until the end.
Enes says that her co-workers aren't willing to help her so even if she stays, nothing will change. It may be better for her to change jobs. Since she would gain experience by moving companies, her new job could be a higher position at a new company.
Alberto says that although she may find a better job at a different company, he doesn't want her to quit because of sexism. He exemplifies the treatment towards African Americans in America a few decades ago. They couldn't ride the same bus or go to the same school. However, since one person decided to do something about it, many other people joined in and the situation is much better now.
Guillaume says that not everyone can be Martin Luther King, Jr. Tyler says for a movement to happen, people must think whether erasing sexism can happen in real life. In America, there is an equal opportunities act that prevents discrimination of any kind. If discrimination does happen, people can sue and go to court.
Tyler says that it would be easy for the woman to win in court because there is evidence that there has never been a woman in a high position at the company. Since the company is against promoting women, the woman in the agenda is normal for feeling like she should quit. One person can't go against a company.
Sayuri says that the woman should put more effort into her work and show that she's better than her male co-workers. We shouldn't just blame discrimination all the time.
The conversation ends with a hopeful message that discrimination and sexism will decrease.
The next topic is discrimination.
According to the gender gap index, out of 142 countries Korea is 117. The MC's ask if the summit members think if there is equality between men and woman in Korea. They all immediately say no.
Julian says woman get paid less than men. Enes says that Turkey (which is 125) is similar to Korea. In work places, woman who are under 35 get picked more and men who are over 35 get picked more. This is to prevent woman from leaving the workplace because at a young age they need money for new marriages and new families.
Si Kyung says that society looks down on women when they get pregnant or take care of babies/children. In Korea, during interviews women get asked questions about marriage and children. Blair says that that is illegal in Australia because it's sexism. Also those questions have nothing to do with work.
China is in the 87th place. Overall, women and men get paid equally. Women actually have power in China. Chinese women have much more power than Korean women. Since China is communist, everyone has to follow the government so the men and women are equal.
Japan is in the 104th place. Sayuri thinks that in Korea, men pay for women's food a lot on dates. She says that if they really want to live in an equal society each person should pay for his or her own food.
Blair says that since Korea was once Confucian, Confucian values still remain in the culture today. Alberto and Julian say that men buying women food on dates isn't sexism.
There are some anecdotes about women who get mad when men try to do something for them. They all agree that if you keep thinking about what gender everyone is, then you're only making the problem bigger.
Italy is in the 69th place. Italy was once a male-dominated society. Women were not allowed to go to school a few decades ago.
Ghana is in the 101st place. Long time ago, people thought that men had to go out and work while women had to stay at home. Sam quotes Doctor James who said, "If you educate a man, you educate one person, but if you educate a woman, you educate a whole nation."
Julian says that until forty years ago, women couldn't even make their own bank accounts. However, now Belgium is in the 10th place. Belgium men and women get paid the same amount. Julian thinks that to change Korea, there needs to be new laws. Sexism isn't a problem that only one person can solve.
France is in the 16th place. Women have a lot of power in France because women fought for several hundred years over women's rights. Robin thinks that there's actually a reverse problem. Men get discriminated sometimes.
Germany is in the 10th place. Daniel says that women have a lot of power in Germany. However, the problem is that women want to change the language because in German there are only masculine words.
America is the 20th place. Tyler explains the term Glass Ceiling which is a ceiling that you can't see.
Se Yoon concludes the conversation by saying that men and women are obviously different so we have to accept that. However, we should find a way to distribute roles so that there is no sexism.
MC Se Yoon asks a question:
- If I were to be born again, would I want to be born as a man again or be born as a woman?
Alberto, Robin and Julian say they want to be born as a woman.
Alberto says that since he's living as a man, he wants to experience living as a woman. Robin says he wants to experience pregnancy. Zhang agrees with Robin. Julian agrees with Alberto that he wants to live differently as a woman since he knows what it's like to be a man.
Blair thinks that it would be too hard to live as a woman. Every day he would have to put on makeup and style his hair. Other people would judge him for his appearance so it would be hard.
Sayuri says that she would like to be born as a man in the next life. She would like to live in Africa, where it's possible for a man to have five wives. Sam says that in reality it's impossible to live like that in Africa.
MC Si Kyung talks about stereotyping gender roles such as girls playing with dolls and boys playing with toys. He asks if there are any expressions relating to gender stereotypes.
Blair brings up two expressions: Toughen up and Be a man. Men can't really express their feelings because if they do they are seen as acting feminine.
In Ghana, there's the expression, "No man no cry." It means that men must never cry.
Si Kyung closes the segment by saying that it's impossible to know what it's really like to live in the other gender because we can't change gender by will. It's hard to really tell what life is like for the other gender.
The next topic is racial discrimination.
- Does racial discrimination exist in your country?
Besides Guillaume, everyone's hands go up. Guillaume says that in Canada, instead of racial discrimination, there are a lot of misunderstandings. People who don't speak English perfectly get ignored and people who can't speak French in Quebec get ignored. This can come off as discrimination, but it's really not.
Bobby Kim talks about his experience in growing up in America as a Korean. He says that he used to get made fun of a lot and was called Chinese all the time. Despite there being many different Asian ethnic groups, ignorant people think that they're all the same.
Tyler talks about how racial discrimination still exists in America. He exemplifies how people didn't believe that Obama was born in the United States so Obama had to reveal his birth certificate which showed that he was indeed born in the United States. However, some people believed that the birth certificate was faked. They kept going on about how it was unfair that Obama was running for president, which doesn't make any sense. Also, the KKK still exists. However, people try to make conditions better in the United States and the law really helps target discrimination.
Sam says that when he was in school, he learned that white was good and black was bad. Due to imperialism, white people were regarded as gods. To this day, even among blacks, those with lighter skin are preferred.
The MC's say that Koreans are not trying to be rude or discriminatory towards other races. Korea is a very homogeneous country and many have not met people of other races so they don't know how to act towards people of other races. They are scared and they have wrong impressions of foreigners.
Daniel says he's worried about Germany because of increasing discrimination. There are several groups that are against Muslims. Also, young people have a hard time finding jobs so they blame immigrants for taking jobs away from them. Alberto says that discrimination against immigrants in Italy also exists.
Blair says that since immigrants look different and are different they get treated differently.
Daniel says that some older generation people say that Hitler was a great man. He thinks that they say that because they aren't really aware of what happened, but he wishes that they would stop. If someone says that in Germany they get arrested. Daniel says that Hitler was not a great man and cannot be seen as a good man in any way because he was a devil.
Si Kyung asks another question: Do you think that racial discrimination can cease to exist?
Robin, Alberto, Blair and Guillaume think that it is possible.
Daniel says that he initially thought that racial discrimination can cease to exist through education, but now realizes that as long as there are cultural boundaries it is impossible.
Guillaume thinks that if immigration increases, then in a hundred years or a thousand years it is possible.
Sam thinks that aside from skin color, people are taught not to discriminate. Since the word discrimination exists, then it is impossible to get rid of discrimination.
Julian believes that the next generation can get rid of racial discrimination. It's hard for his generation to do that, but if we teach children and babies to not discriminate it is possible.
Daniel says that we should think of discrimination as illegal rather than as a problem.
Tyler says that although discrimination is not likely to cease to exist, what is more important is the effort that goes into getting rid of discrimination.
Alberto says that everyone discriminates against people who are different because they are scared or not sure of how to act. If everyone can acknowledge that, then we can get rid of discrimination. He saw a kindergarten class recently and saw that there were children of all races. He thinks that those children will grow up accepting people of different cultures.
MC Si Kyung says that everyone in the room looks different, but are still so alike. Like Tyler said, as long as we keep fighting discrimination, the conditions will get better.
It's time for the final vote. Five people think the women in the agenda is abnormal and seven think she is normal. Se Yoon deems the woman normal.
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My Comments:
Wow, I was so engrossed in the debate about discrimination that I forgot about the agenda. It was fascinating to learn about discrimination and sexism around the world. In New York, since there are so many people of so many cultures, people generally do not discriminate. I knew that Korea was still a male-centered society from my numerous hours of watching Korean TV. However, I didn't really know about how European countries handle discrimination.
I watched the drama Misaeng and although dramas don't accurately necessarily reflect real life, I thought to myself that sexism in the office must be worse in real life. I thought women faced some sort of sexism all over the world so I was surprised to learn that in France women have almost more power than men. I hope that along with the younger generation solving discrimination they also solve sexism or at least put a lot of effort into facing the issues and trying to make solutions.
As always, this Abnormal Summit episode was knowledgeable. Also, I really liked Blair as a guest and liked how Sayuri held her own even though she was the only woman.
What are your thoughts on racial discrimination? Do you feel that the world is improving and there's much less discrimination than there was in the last century? Is there anything that we can do to help?
