March 8^th marks International Women’s Day. Like other countries around the world, North Korea has designated the day as a public holiday, and promotes it through the media. Even in the patriarchal North, women look forward to the date because many men give presents and cook to mark it.

According to defectors, the practice of celebrating the day emerged following the Arduous March of the 1990s. As is well known, as the national distribution system broke down, women became primary breadwinners through market activity, because if the titular head of the family, the man, did not show up to his official workplace he would incur punishment, the responsibility for supporting the family fell on the shoulders of women. The rising status of females had repercussions for societal values.

The way Women’s Day is celebrated differs depending on social class. Party cadres or men in the elite class who are primarily concerned about “face” are more likely to buy an expensive gift or food, rather than helping out around the house.

Men in everyday families are different. According to defectors, considerate men may opt to prepare relatively less expensive gifts. Also, some go out to the market on the eve of the holiday to buy food for the day. Husbands tend to play the role of “household helper” on the 8^th, too, assisting wives more than normal. Women, who are freed from household management for the day, gather with friends to chat and play games. Naturally, defectors say that as this cultural norm has developed, women have come to take it as a given.

One male defector who arrived in South Korea last year told Daily NK on the 7^th, “I still remember the bewildered faces of my mother and my wife when Women’s Day rolled around and they saw that I had risen early to do the housework, prepare gifts and make food. Even though life was difficult, it was a day when husbands had to do their best to make the women in their lives happy.”