Many people have called attention to “Miss Moms” and continue to discuss this type of family since a famous radio presenter, Her Soo-kyung, announced that she would be a Miss Mom last August. She became Korea’s first highly publicized Miss Mom on December 31, 2007. Chonnam Tribune deals with this topic through a pro and con debate with members of an English campus club “BBC” last December 20. – Ed. 

Moderator: Before taking up this topic, we need to know the social background that makes ‘Miss Moms’ appear. Let’s talk about it.
Se-min (Pro): Unlike women in traditional society, nowadays many women are educated and get their own jobs, and then have enough economic power to lead their lives without depending on a husband for money.
Moderator: Though we have no related laws or policies to regulate sperm donation to unmarried women, some people think it is a kind of illegal or immoral behavior. What do you think about sperm donation to single women?
Eung-ju (Con): If it is allowed, women who want to become Miss Moms may abuse sperm banks to get better donator’s sperm. As a result, it is possible that sperm would be commercialized as a manufactured product.
Myung-kwan (Pro) : I think it is not illegal but uncommon in Korea that a woman without a spouse has a baby using artificial insemination. We must not regard it as a crime because there are no related laws in our society.
Yea-jin (Con): I think sperm donation itself is immoral. Sperm has life, just like part of a living human body that has a possibility to become a baby. Moreover, most donors give their sperm for free, but some men sell their sperm in private. Buying and selling sperm is illegal.
 

Moderator: In the U.S. and U.K., there is a general tendency to regard a Miss Mom family as another family type. What do you think about it?
Myung-kwan (Pro): As the marriage-centered family structure of the past is becoming more diversified. I think it is natural process that we recognize Miss Moms as a newly invented type of family.
Eung-ju (Con): I don’t think so. A Miss Mom and a baby could not be a family. Children need both their father’s and mother’s care at the same time. In the case of a Miss Mom family, its children cannot received a father’s care, and then it would remain as an imperfect form of a family.
Ji-yea (Pro): I don’t agree that children who live in a single parent family cannot grow well. We have to respect the right to pursue happiness, including that of women who want to be Miss Moms. They can be good parents without a spouse. The only family composed of both parents and children is not always good. Many children are still victims of their father’s domestic violence.
Sun-jin (Con): Children need to learn the same and opposite gender role from both parents, who are important for children’s growth because father and mother play different gender-based roles.

Moderator: And then, if we recognize this family type, we have to look at ways to assist Miss Moms to raise their children well. Let’s try to find good ways to help them.
Se-min (Pro): It is a male baby-sitter. If a Miss Mom employs a male baby-sitter, he could be a role model like a father. The male baby-sitter is common in the U.S. and European countries.
Yea-jin (Con): I think that a Miss Mom who raises their children alone is not good. Miss Moms’ social success never proves that they have ability to raise their children well.
Moderator: Miss Moms’ children are likely to find their biological family. What do you think about this?
Se-min (Pro): In my opinion, birth parents are less important than parents who raise children. If Miss Moms’ children find their fathers around 20 years later, I think it does not make sense. They have never seen each other and even their fathers can already be a member of another family. They have no the right to act as a father. It is a useless action. 
 

Moderator: Until now, there is not any regulating system related to Miss Moms in Korea. What kinds of law or policy we need?
Ji-yea (Pro): The existing laws related to the headship of a family were abolished and a woman without a husband could be the head of a family. The government should also enact laws related to new family types like Miss Mom families. Miss Moms may contribute to an increase in the birth rate. For this reason, it is necessary to make policies to reduce their financial burden when Miss Moms give birth to more than two or three babies.
Yea-jin (Con): In the US and UK, there are related laws to regulate sperm banks. Our country must prepare a law relevant to this matter by law. I think we have to make it clear about the whole process to be a Miss Mom. The government should manage sperm banks more thoroughly and consider sperm acceptor’s qualification from all angles. It is because the sperm is relevant to human life.


Conclusion
As students said at the end of debate, until now there are no laws related to Miss Moms in Korea. Moreover, our society is still fairly conservative that Miss Moms cannot be accepted as a new and normal type of family. As everything has both negative and positive sides, a Miss Mom family has merit and demerits. For this reason, we have to think about the advent of Miss Moms and reconsider an established marriage-centered family structure from a new angle. We need to change inflexible attitude to treat new things initially as negative. We should also recognize this kind of family as one of current common trends in our society and make a careful judgment about how to treat the Miss Mom family.
 

By Kwon Jeong-ha, Tribune Reporter
 

#279 Global Lounge