"I refused to let her move out when she was in college but now after she got a job, she doesn't leave the house at all. When I ask her if she's dating, she says she's too tired to date, let alone get married. If there's someone good out there, please introduce him to her." 

A, a woman in her 60s, shared her concerns about her daughter, who is now in her 30s. In fact, the majority of women said they didn't want to be with a man like A's daughter. 

According to a recent survey, half of Korean men would like to be with a woman their age but only about a quarter of women responded they would like to be with a man their age. While societal concerns regarding the declining birthrate continue to rise, the diagnosis is that dating, let alone marriage, is not going to be easy due to the wide discrepancies between men's and women's opinions on their opposite sex.

According to the survey released by Gallup Korea on May 11th, regardless of marital status, 56% of men consider women their age to be someone they would like to be with. Among women, however, only 27% answered that they "want to be with a man" and 41% said they "don't want to be with a man."

The survey was conducted among 617 men and 585 women aged between 19 to 59 from August 12 to August 22nd, 2022. 

The discrepancy becomes greater among those who don't want to get married or unmarried. 53% of men said they'd like to be with a woman their age, while only 21% of women responded the same.  

Gallup Korea said, "Married people have more favorable views toward the opposite sex than unmarried people, with men and women viewing each other as 'responsible' (about 70%), 'competent' (about 60%), and 'honest' (around 40%)." They added, "However, it's unclear whether married people viewed the opposite sex positively before marriage or their views have changed after living together."

Moreover, half of the men and women who didn't want to get married found it "difficult to empathize" with the opposite sex, and about 40% considered each other "irresponsible." While the same group of men found women "competent" (46%) but "pretentious" (50%), only 24% of the women deemed men "competent."

Lee Eun Hee, the President of The Korean Home Economics Association, commented, "Men and women have biologically different desires for romance or the opposite sex. Looking at the statistics, it cannot be said that Korean men, regardless of their marital status, have a high opinion of the opposite sex in recent years." She continued, "Coupled with the decreasing job market and increasing socioeconomic instability, it seems that both men and women have a very low opinion of the opposite sex."

"Particularly, lower regard for men among women is a combination of biological desire and social learning. It comes from the lower desire for the opposite sex, direct/indirect exposure to dating violence, and the burden of house chores and childcare after marriage."