Female characters are taking larger roles in recent television dramas. But ironically, their biggest enemies on the shows are members of their own sex.
The characters Eun-mi in the SBS drama "Bad Wife", Hyun-a in the MBC drama "New Employee", Hee-joo in KBS drama "Pretty You" and Hye-mi in MBC drama "Be Strong Kum-soon" are all women who seem to thrive on tormenting the main female characters.
TV critic Lee Kyong-soon says that in dramas that deal with love triangles, there is no better way of increasing viewer ratings than using a storyline in which "woman's enemy is woman".
"Most of the time, a woman who is involved in a love triangle has a successful career and does not seem to be short of anything", Lee said. "However, in order to win the heart of a man, she not only ruins herself but also sets up a conspiracy, providing a main source of trouble for the heroine in the drama. And this gets viewers involved, thinking how the heroine will work her way out of the trouble".
In "Bad Wife", airing at 9:55 p.m. on Mondays and Tuesdays, heroine Mi-na's colleague Eun-mi seems to go to work just to harass Mina. She shows an unprofessional attitude as a career woman, making viewers wonder why she works at all. The moment she finds out that her manager Seon-woo, whom she is fond of, is interested in Mi-na, she opposes Mi-na in every way and excludes her from other people at work, stirring up others to get them on her side.
In "New Employee", at 9:55 p.m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays, Hyun-a, a daughter of LK group chairman, enters the company thanks to the power of her father and torments Mi-ok, a temporary contract worker, who is in a triangle love rivalry over Pong-sam, a new elite employee. Graduated from a prestigious university and having studied abroad, she also ignores Mi-ok just because she graduated from a commercial high school. And she even forms a conspiracy against Mi-ok, preventing her from renewing her contract, which forces her to quit her job. However, despite all her malicious efforts, when things do not turn out as planned and she fails to win Pong-sam's heart, Hyun-a immediately tenders her resignation, making all investments she made in her career useless.
In "Pretty You" (8:25 p.m. from Monday to Friday), Hee-joo becomes something of a stalker because she cannot forget ex-boyfriend Ki-joon, currently In-young's husband. She follows Ki-joon on business trips and frequents his home as if it was hers. Hee-joo's out-of-control sentiment of love seems excessively irrational, greatly devastating In-young.
In the popular daily drama "Be Strong Kum-soon" (8:20 p.m. from Monday to Friday), Hye-mi, heroine Kum-soon's senior worker at a beauty shop harasses and threatens Kum-soon because she is jealous of Kum-soon's talent as a hairdresser. Fights and arguments between the two are staples of every episode, such as the scene in which Kum-soon takes revenge on Hye-mi by shutting Hye-mi up in a bathroom and pouring water over her, or when the two have a tussle pulling each other's hair.
Although the audience might enjoy the fights between the female characters of their favorite shows, critic Lee warns that they can have a negative effect on viewers.
"If viewers continue to see these repetitive images of women who do not get along with other women, and always give up their career so easily and lose their self-dignity just to win a man, they can internalize these images as stereotypes of women", Lee said. "I hope drama writers, who are mostly women, should keep this in mind and be more considerate when writing their works".
English 
US$5 off (order min. US$5)
