A newsreader wearing glasses on set in South Korea is a really big deal

Any woman that usually wears makeup to work, but decides to skip it one day, will likely receive comments of some kind.

Often, they’ll be innocent in nature; a male colleague can’t identify why you look so “tired” today, perhaps. Thanks for that.

In South Korea, such beauty expectations are at another level. It reportedly has the highest per capita rate of plastic surgery in the world, and wearing makeup while lIeaving the house is expected as an absolute minimum.

There are similar expectations about not wearing glasses. According to Quartz, a recent study conducted by online job-portal Career and cited by Hankyoreh newspaper found that out of 552 Korean workers surveyed, 60% said that they hadn’t seen a female colleague wear glasses at work before.

Which is why when one newsreader in South Korea decided to ditch her contact lenses and wear glasses on air instead, it was a pretty big deal.

Tired of wearing contact lenses and fake eyelashes to work Lim Hyeon-ju, who works for cable channel MBC, posted a picture of herself ready for work and in her glasses.

She captioned it (translated by Google): “I went to the news with glasses today. I did not wear eyelashes, so makeup was easy, dry, and I did not need tear meds every day.

“After wearing glasses, I wondered, ‘why did you wear glasses?’ It was morning that I had a lot of questions.”

The photo has received loads of positive feedback, including more than 5,000 likes and an array of supportive comments.

“I believe that the world will change a little bit because of you,” said one commenter.

“There was a small act but a big echo,” said another. “Thank you for doing what you need! I will support you in the future.”

One chimed in: “You gave a very small but loud voice to what was thought to be of course unintentionally. I cheer for you. I hope someday this will be a natural thing that does not even need to be cheered!”

Hopefully, if a greater number of women like Hyeon-ju take a stand, that last commenter will be right.

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