I feel like I have obtained a deeper understanding of both my parents and the Korean culture in general after doing my research. Growing up, I couldn't for the life of me, understand why my parents would act the way they did, especially with the roles of gender. I couldn't understand why my mom had always been "responsible" for the things that my dad, or anyone else in the house was perfectly capable of doing.

After talking to my mom and aunt about the roles of females in the Korean culture, I realized, it is more of a tradition that has been kept up for generations. Although, it may not be clear to me as to why it is that way, it makes sense because everything that my mom does in the household, is what she learned from her mom growing up. However, I definitely don't expect to keep up the tradition. But I mean, I learned a lot about my culture. I learned that all cultures are different, I shouldn't look down on my roots, but just come to an understanding of them. 

I feel like keeping up a tradition is important, because in the end, that is one of the few things that can remind you of your roots in the end. But when I talked to my aunt about everything, I expected her to agree with my point of view more than anything, but it was the complete opposite. Her views were much more traditional than I expected. She said her view on it, is that it is just what women are supposed to do, in the Korean Culture. And at first I was confused, seeing as how she grew up in the states, but then I realized, these traditions and beliefs are apart of the culture in which she grew up with. 

I don't really have an answer as to why the female role is the way it is, but I feel like I understood that no matter what the situation, in the end, you will follow through with your roots, regardless if it was a huge part of your life.
As for my mom, I know she doesn't enjoy how the role of females in the Korean culture has come to be, but she goes along with it anyways. Oddly, I want to say my mom is less traditional compared to my aunt. My mom is more open to understanding the American culture, since my sister and I both grew up with both Korean Culture and American Culture. Which I applaud her for, because it is hard to look outside of your beliefs, and try to understand other views of life. She tries to change things up when it comes to gender roles in my family, which I really respect her for. She has spoken up for herself much more now than ever before. And in my eyes, in the Korean Culture, whatever the man in the family says, goes... Which in my opinion is completely dumb, because it should be an equal decision, and shouldn't be up to just one person.
So overall, I guess it just depends on the person, if they stick with tradition, and believe it, because that is what they grew up with. Because I was really surprised that my aunt, even though she had grown up her, is more close minded towards breaking tradition, than my mom, whom had grown up in Korea..

Blog Post 2

I had been contemplating on how I was going to go about my research. Who was I going to interview? As I thought about who would be the best to interview, the first person that came to mind was my mom and my aunt. My mother who was born and raised in Korea, moved to the states about 20 years ago, so who better than my own mom to ask about this very topic? How different was gender roles in Korea than America, and how did the difference impact her life?
As with my aunt, she was born in Korea as well, but she moved to the states when she was a teenager, so in her perspective, it must of had a totally different impact, seeing as how she grew up in the states, but originated from the Korean culture from a young age.
Through my research i would love to gain more knowledge of my Korean culture and how different it is than it is here in the US. I feel and hope that with these interviews of my mom and aunt, I can become more understanding and gain more appreciation for different cultural views of gender specifically and basically everything about cultures.

Hello! My name is Erin Chon and I am a freshman at HSU, majoring in Wildlife Conservation and Management. I am from Paso Robles, California, which is a small town on the central coast. I am 100% Korean, and grew up with many traditions and morals based off of the Korean culture because of my parents. However, since I was born and raised in the the US, I would consider myself a Korean-American mainly because I am more in sync with the American "beliefs"/culture more that the traditional Korean "beliefs"/culture.

So, growing up in America, with parents that grew up in a totally different place, with different expectations, was extremely challenging. As I grew older I started to realize the difference in the Korean culture and the American culture, especially with gender related issues.
It seems like in the Korean culture, as with many other cultures, the woman of he household is strictly designated to stay home, and cater to the members of the family. Although it may not be as apparent now, in past generations, that idea was deeply rooted in the culture. 

Throughout my blog posts, I will be talking about how and why the roles of women have come to be the way they are today, what made things change, what made the role of females like that in the first place, and why the role of females is different in every culture.