Rocks, Wind, and Women

... are the three things that are said to be plentiful on Jeju Island, while thieves, beggars, and front gates are said to be absent (at least in the old days).

Rocks: Jeju is a volcanic island, so all around the coast you can see lava rock formations, and stone walls and stone "grandpas" are ubiquitous.

Jusangjeolli

Stone wall

Stone Grandpas + Yoongi (돌하르방)

Wind: It's windy.

Women:

OHAI

In the old days, Jeju fishermen were often lost at sea, leaving behind wives and children and causing a gender imbalance on the island.

However, Korea was also one of many countries that favored having sons over daughters, leading to sex-selective abortion, even in my grandma's lifetime. The feeling was that it was a woman's duty to bear sons. My mom and her two sisters have felt the effects of this preference for sons all their lives. My mom was one of two girls her age to go to middle school in her village, while there was no question that all the boys would get an education. To pay for school, my mom had to comb through already-harvested crop fields for anything left behind that she could sell, while my uncle's education was taken care of by my grandmother. When my grandmother cooked chicken, she gave the meat only to my uncle and not his three older sisters.

The gender imbalance still exists in South Korea but is re-equilibrating from 116 boys for every 100 girls in 1990, and attitudes towards having girls are changing for the better.