Sayuri Fujita who is a Japanese television personality celebrity based in South Korea has become a socially hot potato. This is because she has become a voluntary single mother. Although becoming voluntary single mothers through sperm donations is not illegal in South Korea, there is still a bad view of voluntary single mothers in Korean society. The arguments of those who support the voluntary single mothers through sperm donation procedures are as follows.
First, changes in household and population patterns have led to this phenomenon. According to the data from the National Statistical Office (NSO), as of 2019, single-person households accounted for 30.2 percent of all households, and two-person households accounted for 27.8 percent of all households. That is, households with one or two people account for 58 percent of the total population. These figures indicate that marriage is an optional decision in these days. The same is true of childbirth. These social changes greatly affected individual choices regarding marriage and childbirth. In the same manner, voluntary single mothers should be respected because their decisions are made for individual happiness.
Second, if a voluntary mother has the financial ability, she can raise her child well enough by herself. Many people say that it is impossible for a mother to raise a child alone and that the child will grow up in an unfortunate environment, but no one can predict whether the child will be happy or unhappy in the future. In fact, there are many parents who are married but provide a bad environment for their child's emotions. Rather, living with an emotionally stable single mother is better than living with parents who negatively affect the child. If the mother teaches the child how to overcome the negative and prejudicial perceptions around him or her, the child will be able to live this world wisely enough to challenge such difficulties.
Lastly, if social awareness of single mothers changes into positive one, women’s right to self-determination of marriage and childbirth will be more respected and encouraged. According to OECD statistics, the unmarried birth rate of France is 56.7 percent, but that of South Korea is 1.9 percent. There is a huge gap between two countries. I think these figures are derived from social perception. Korean perception of non-marriage births is not that positive yet. On the other hand, in France, there is an atmosphere that respects the choice of single mothers due to a very open view on non-marriage births. If social awareness improves like this, voluntary single mothers can raise children in a better environment with confidence in their choices.
We live in the ever-changing era of the 21st century. In this era, creative choices rather than uniform ones can be the driving forces, which lead to more successful society. Therefore, rather than looking at single mothers from the prejudiced and narrow-minded perspective of society, we should look at them with a more open and generous perspective. In addition to the shift in social awareness, it is urgent to establish institutional mechanisms in order to allow them and their children to live proudly in this society without their human dignity being damaged.
