K-drama Where Housewife Goes Back to Work After Many Years

When women go back to work after a long career hiatus, they face an uphill battle from the onset. They find themselves ineligible for their old jobs, their experience is now outdated, they are judged for taking the time off to stay at home and raise a family, and maybe worst of all, they are disqualified before they can prove themselves.

Kdramas have shown us this struggle to fit back into the workplace in many shapes over the years. The women in these dramas have very different personalities and reasons for wanting a career again. Sometimes it's out of necessity after a divorce leaves them with a child and no support, and at other times, it's because they have a knack for solving crimes that can't be hidden any more.

No matter what the reason, it's an exhausting time of change that can also bring immense satisfaction as the women learn to trust their abilities again.

Let's look at 5 Korean dramas where women get a second chance to build their careers and achieve their dreams:

18 Again (2020)

In18 Again, Jung Da-jung is a woman in her late thirties, who gave up her dreams of becoming a news anchor when she got pregnant in the final year of school. Against the wishes of both parents, she and her young husband chose to keep the baby and raise her to the best of their ability.

Amongst the many sacrifices they made, their dreams were just the first to fall. Like Da-jung, her husband also gave up his chance to play basketball professionally, but unlike her, he began to regret his decision after a while.

Almost two decades into their marriage, Da-jung finds out about this regret and decides to divorce him. But instead of just surviving the separation, she also decides to seriously pursue her dream again.

While magic realism gives Da-jung's husband a second chance to re-live his youth and sincerely choose his family all over again, Da-jung's own second chance is much more realistic.

Many companies say that age is no bar to apply to their jobs, but weed out anyone over a certain age during the interview stage. Da-jung outperforms everyone, yet she nearly loses out on the job anyway.

Even when she is allowed inside the TV station, she is treated more as an intern than a budding journalist. It's her diligence and preparedness that allows her to grab opportunities when they come by, and she begins to establish herself as a rising presenter on the channel.

Of course, her struggles don't cease that easily. When news of her divorce comes out to the public, she is pelted with hate comments. She faces sexism and ageism every step of the way. Fortunately, Da-jung has family and friends who always root for her. She also has an admirer who appreciates her work ethics and would happily step up to court her if she would show the slightest hint of interest.

Watch the drama on Netflix, iQIYI, or WeTv.

Twenty Again (2015)

I remember when Twenty Again was airing. We had seen K-dramas where women began their careers late or had to go back to work before, but this one stood out for many reasons.

No-ra had married young just like Da-jung, and in doing so she gave up her education and any possibility of a career. Over time as her husband began to climb the ladder of his own profession, he found No-ra's lack of an educational background embarrassing.

As distance grew between the couple, No-ra found that even her son had adopted the same disdain towards her as her husband.

In an attempt to get closer to the men she loved the most, No-ra began to secretly study so she could apply for college. When the acceptance letters came in, to her delight, it turned out that No-ra had gained admission to the same college as her son.

However, neither her husband nor her son were happy about it. They saw this as No-ra's way to humiliate them. As all of No-ra's hopes crumbled, her husband handed her divorce papers, claiming that this was the final straw. This is where the drama really won us all. No-ra picked up the pieces of her heart and decided that instead of going to college to make her family proud, she would do it for herself.

So, as her home life shifted, with her husband making plans to move out, and her son taking his father's side, No-ra focused on rediscovering who she was before she became a wife and a mother.

And in the process, she meets an old friend, who remembers her as his first love and his greatest heartbreak.

Watch the drama on Netflix.

Romance Is a Bonus Book (2019)

In Romance Is a Bonus Book, we meet Kang Dan-i. Unlike our previous two female leads, Dan-i had some work experience before she gave it up to marry her boyfriend.

At the start of the drama, we see that Dan-i already had doubts about the marriage. She even ran away on the day of the wedding, hiding at the back of her best friend's car, but eventually chose to come back.

Once Dan-i was married, she committed whole-heartedly to her role as a home-maker, but a decade and a child later, her husband handed her a divorce letter and then disappeared with all of their assets and no sign of child support.

With no one to turn to and a daughter to raise, Dan-i was left in a desperate situation. So, she sent the girl to a boarding school and began to live out of the house her husband had sold from under her, while it awaited demolition. She also secretly took up the housekeeping job at her best friend's place until she landed a better job.

Except finding a job after ten years away from her field turned out to be a near impossible ask. Despite having an impressive CV, her absence from the advertising world meant that she was behind on trends and no one was ready to give her a chance to catch up.

After many months of rejections, she finally came upon a job listing for an internship at a publishing house. Since her college education had proved an odd barrier when Dan-i looked for smaller roles, she decided to lie on the application and say that she had only graduated high school.

She was nearly disqualified again for being well into her thirties, until a quick perusal of her cover letter convinced the CEO to give her a chance.

Dan-i poured her soul into her work and quickly became an integral part of the publishing house. It was also the company where her best friend held a senior position, but he agreed to keep silent about her background so she had time to find her footing.

This drama spends a lot more time allowing the female lead to learn and grow in a warm work environment. It also gives us a friends to lovers story that's one for the books.

Watch the drama on Netflix.

Queen of Mystery (2017)

In Queen of Mystery, Yoo Seol-ok is a budding neighbourhood ajhumma detective. Aside from her one friend, everyone sees her as an extremely ordinary housewife who spends her days chasing sales at the supermarket and catering to her mother in law's demands.

Seol-ok name and her character are both a play on Sherlock of the Holmes fame, but this is not just a story of gender reversal.

Imagine a woman with a mind made for solving brutal crimes, regularly dismissed in her own home whenever she voices a thought.

Eventually, this woman comes upon a crime scene and tries to help the detective find the correct murderer. After an initial period of distrust, the detective begins to realise that Seol-ok's insights were extremely pertinent.

It doesn't immediately make him accepting of her as an equal, but he's the first person to acknowledge her talent.

Over many cases throughout the drama, Seol-ok balances housework with case work and eventually makes up her mind to leave her cold husband and his unappreciative mother.

The drama is quirky and hilarious for most of its run time. When Seol-ok isn't bickering with the detective, she's finding interesting ways of evading her family's suspicions about her new activities.

But the season ends without a satisfying closure about her personal life, so here's a spoiler for season two. Seol-ok does leave her husband and pursues her dream of working in the police. She even ends up partnering with the detective. But my recommendation is limited to season one. It's warm, clever, and heart-felt, and you'll remember Seol-ok for a long time.

Watch the drama on Apple TV or Viki.

Doctor Cha (2023)

This is a currently airing drama that's getting really high domestic ratings and a lot of international attention.

From the initial episodes, I could see a lot of plot similarities with Twenty Again with an unsupportive, cheating husband and an unsympathetic daughter, failing to see why Cha Jung-sook wants to restart her education twenty years after she gave up her medical residency.

Much like the other drama, Jung-sook faces personal as well as professional rejection as her husband refuses to acknowledge her in the hospital. Instead, he makes her life considerably harder by constantly humiliating her.

Also, much like all the other dramas on this list, Jung-sook meets a younger man who is respectful, kind and sees her merits instead of just her flaws.

Once the drama wraps up, I'll decide if this show deserves to stay on this list. But for now:

Watch the drama on TVING or Netflix.

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