This feels apt given the documentary’s subject—the matriarchal haenyeo community, which dates back centuries and in 2016 was included on Unesco’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
..
This feels apt given the documentary’s subject—the matriarchal haenyeo community, which dates back centuries and in 2016 was included on Unesco’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. One theory links haenyeo back to the 17th century when a tax was imposed on men’s labour, thereby encouraging women to go and seek a livelihood instead. Another suggests that women simply did better as their higher body fat composition allowed them to stay longer in the water, gathering more catch. Whatever the origins, the haenyeo tradition is one that has been passed down from mothers to daughters over generations, resulting in a community of financially independent women that has long been in stark contrast to South Korea’s historically patriarchal society.
“My family has had haenyeos for the past seven generations,” says 79-year-old Hee Soon Lee through a translator in an interview…