Co-ed plans spark protests in women's unis across S. Korea

Students lament lack of consultation, say it goes against schools' founding principles

- Wendy Teo

SEOUL - It is just two weeks before the final exams. But things have come to a standstill at Seoul's Dongduk Women's University, where students have stopped attending classes since Nov 11.

At the school's annexe outside the main gate, a row of funeral wreaths has been placed in a symbolic gesture. There are protest slogans spray-painted on the ground and protest notes pasted on the building's facade, calling for the university to exercise more democracy and revoke the plans for co-education.

The school gate - pasted with handwritten protest letters and notes - remains tightly shut, while a security guard checks student cards before allowing the women entry into the campus.

News broke on Nov 7 that the school was considering a transition to co-education, and on Nov 11, Dongduk students started occupying the school's buildings in protest. They argue that such a move would go against the school's founding principles, which is to ensure women's equal rights to education.

The protest has since spread to other women's universities like Sungshin Women's University, also in Seoul, and Gwangju Women's University in the south-western part of the country.

South Korea's birthrate woes have led to its school-age population dipping to 7.14 million in 2024 from 9.18 million 10 years ago. The falling enrolment rates have thus prompted many private universities to come up with ways to increase student intake to stay financially viable.

But resistance has been strong. In 2015 and 2018, two women's universities were forced to withdraw their co-educational plans following fierce student opposition.

South Korea has a history of gender-separated education institutions. Women-specific colleges were established mostly from the late Joseon dynasty (late 1800s to early 1900s), by either Christian missionaries or women's activists.