Growing up in Korea, Curie Kim ’09 learned about the role of heavy social drinking in South Korea’s corporate world.
Brace Student Fellow Kim researched the hoishik tradition and shared her findings in a presentation entitled “The Role of Women in Transforming Korean Corporate Culture: ‘Hoishik.’”
A custom dating back to the 1970s, hoishik is an after-work outing with colleagues for dinner, drinking and socializing.
Frequently lasting until early morning, hoishik is often mandatory for employees. Those who leave early may be penalized either formally or informally.
The tradition began as an effort to increase office bonding.
Today, hoishik has evolved into nights of heavy drinking, leading women into demeaning situations.
Women are often forced to drink soju, an inexpensive popular Korean alcoholic beverage consumed in excess during the outings.
According to Kim, the 1997 election of President Kim Dae-jung led to drastic changes in the tradition of hoishik and its effects on the status of women.
Dae-jung promoted equal opportunity employment and increased sexual harassment education programs.
After his election, the number of women in corporate positions rose and the percentage of women elected representatives increased from three to six percent.
Kim said that with the recent influx of women in leadership positions, hoishik activities have adapted, accommodating those who prefer not to drink.
Companies are now banning forced drinking and setting time limits for business outings.
In addition, instead of going to bars and karaoke clubs, many businesses are now going to movies, getting massages and playing games.
Women in more influential positions have also paved the way for court rulings protecting women from sexual harassment.
According to Anthony Rotundo, Co-Director of the Brace Center for Gender Studies, Kim’s findings are very relevant to Western views on gender.
Rotundo said, “It’s at a time when gender [perception] is changing a lot in American culture and when the Clinton and Palin campaigns have raised a lot of issues about gender… Similar changes are happening in other cultures very different from our own.”
Catherine Carter, Instructor in Classics, said, “Curie suggested that what sounds like a fairly raucous tradition has mellowed as more women have entered the work force. This raises some great questions about similar phenomena closer to home.”
Growing up in Korea, Kim recalled her father and uncle complaining about hoishik.
Kim was inspired to research hoishik after an internship with an ABC affiliate in Korea two summers ago, when she explored the tradition with a news segment on the topic.
