to rebalance the pension system, an institute proposes sending girls to school earlier than boys

The Korean Institute of Public Finance estimates that this measure could have an impact on the number of births each year in the country… and therefore on the number of contributors to pay pensions.

South Korea, like France, is worried about its public finances. The country does not really know how it will be able to continue paying the pensions of its seniors. There are more and more of them and there are fewer and fewer young people to work and contribute. To rebalance the system, a government institute thinks it has found the magic solution. It would be enough to send girls to school much earlier than boys.

This is one of the solutions recommended in June by KIPF, the Korean Institute of Public Finance. A very serious research center linked to the government, which does studies on the efficiency of state spending and taxes. One of its economists worked on the pension financing crisis in South Korea. He notes that with the fall in the birth rate, there will be fewer and fewer workers to contribute, while there will be more pensions to pay for millions of baby boomers. The economist suggests increasing the number of people who can contribute by sending girls to school before boys.

This economist explains that girls mature much earlier than boys. In high school and in the first years of university, they would find themselves, in classes, with boys who were a little immature for them, still a little childish. They would therefore not naturally be interested in romantic or sexual relationships with these men their age. According to the report, this gap would reduce the probability of couples forming young and therefore automatically lower the chances of having babies. As the institute seeks solutions to increase the number of babies, it proposes to bring forward, by at least one year, the school age of girls in the country. Thus, girls would find themselves, in classes, at the end of schooling with boys who are older but have approximately the same level of maturity. There would be more couples and more babies and therefore, later, more contributors to pay for pensions.

This idea has not yet been accepted by the conservative South Korean government. Currently, the idea is especially controversial on social networks and in the Korean media.
Elected officials from the center-left opposition have even described it as “completely absurd”. They explain that the collapse in the birth rate for years is linked to root causes, whether poor salaries, patriarchy, corporate life. The opposition believes that pointing the finger at young people’s sexuality would even be totally counterproductive.