Have you ever seen this picture on the Internet? This picture, which occupied the part of daily
newspapers in 2012, is about the difference between women and men when they are preparing to go out in the morning. You can recognize at a glance that the woman breaks her morning time taking a shower, make-up, and choosing her clothing while the man is in his bed until just before he goes out. Many netizens expressed their sympathy with the picture through the comments such as “Ah, why am I here in the picture?” With the responses, you can know it’s no exaggeration to say that most women are living busily. Why do they live busily?
Her Busy Life Is Going On Everywhere
Actually, many examples show that women fill their time with much more work than men. As an example, alternative food such as shredded wheat or soup powder is routinized for women who want to manage their health, figure and time.1 With this trend, Soookmyung Women’s University’s Cafeteria, Misochan, is selling the salad which can help students save their time and good health and it is beloved by many Sookmyungians. Park, School of English ’10, said, “Because I can have a meal in a short time between classes, I usually buy the salad.” Most women are accustomed to their busy life to use their time effectively and many suitable products and services are being launched for them.
As well as the habit and the spending pattern of women, their free time with others reflects their busy life-style. Nowadays, many kinds of multiplexes, where people can enjoy movies, shopping and drinking coffee, have been made in every city and it is making various trends like malling. And, most intriguingly of all, there is the special word, mallie, for women, proving that many women spend their time malling in the multiplex. Actually it is easy to find girls who enjoy shopping and chatting away with their friends in the multiplex. The multiplex is just the thing for women who want to have a break and enjoy various activities all at once. Similarly, the SPA brand store is beloved by women for the reason that it sells accessories, clothes, and cosmetics all in the same place.
Without wasting time or effort on looking over various shops, women can choose clothes, which are not behind in fashion, in one place. This is why the SPA brand stores’ customers are mostly women. In this way, women’s busy lives produce places as well as products and services.
PHOTOS BY DB
What Made Her Busy?
Why have women become busy such that the world should be fitted to them? At first, it is because women’s desire to achieve their own purpose is growing. According to the LG economic study, the number of economically active women stands at 48.9% in 2007 and it is growing steadily. Hence more women want to be better people with stronger ambitions than in the past, so they can’t stop living busily to achieve their desires. Harvard University professor Nancy Atcoff said, “Only 20 years ago, women’s dressing up was just for men. However, nowadays, women become capable
to every work and have power. Hence, women make an effort for their self-development just for
their achievement.” However the reason why women become busy is not just because they have high status in the society. That is the implicit contradiction between the previous role of women and
now. While women do other things now, which were for men in the past, they are expected to do the role of traditional women, so women should be busy to do all assignments which are given to them.
According to the collaborative research project by London Economic University and The University of Sheffield, women thought the office-going hours more stressful than men, who don’t need to think of other things except their work. From the results of research, women’s diligence is not just positive, and it also indicates that women’s diligence may have been made against their will. Moreover, it is a problem that most of the woman’s busy life is focused on dressing up. Of course it is because of the specific desire not to be behind in fashion, but it also can be interpreted that women are still evaluated by their appearance. According to the results of the survey by Nancy
Atcoff’s psychology study team, people thought the women who did make up were more intelligent and attractive than the one who didn’t make up. If the women want to be seen intelligently, they should make up. Yoo (27), web designer, said, “If I don’t make up, people would brand me a lazy
person, so I should dress up every day. In a company, there is an atmosphere that women should have attractive appearance in addition to ability.” Like her, under the atmosphere that women can get credit if they make an effort to have better appearance than men, women can’t help being busy.
Everyone knows that the early bird catches the worm. Maybe women’s diligence has made the world such that women earn their status. Have you ever thought about that your diligence is just for you? If you are busy because of other people, it means you are lazy to yourself. Be busy for yourself.
1. Park Sue Hee,「Small but Nurishing, Breakfast Bar」, MK Business News, 2008.10.10
