Bechdel Day 2025 has announced its Bechdel Choice 10, spotlighting 10 Korean series that excelled in gender-equal storytelling over the past year.
The lineup features SBS’s Good Partner, JTBC’s Miss Night and Day, tvN’s Our Unwritten Seoul, U+tv’s Friendly Rivalry, JTBC’s The Tale of Lady Ok, MBC’s Doubt, tvN’s Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born, JTBC’s A Virtuous Business, Netflix’s When Life Gives You Tangerines, and Disney Plus’ Hyper Knife.
Judges praised this year’s selections for richly developed female characters—even in large-scale historical dramas. When Life Gives You Tangerines earned acclaim for its nuanced portrayal of women across generations, while Jeongnyeon was lauded for its intersection of gender-bending women’s theater and female-driven production. The Tale of Lady Ok was hailed as a groundbreaking period drama for its hero narrative centered on a woman defending the vulnerable.
Modern-set standouts also drew notice. Miss Night and Day tackled social issues faced by underrepresented women with wit, and Our Unwritten Seoul won praise for its grounded storytelling about twin sisters navigating work and identity swaps. Hyper Knife reimagined the medical drama through a female mentor–male mentee dynamic, while Doubt turned familial love into a narrative driver in a tense thriller.
Stories of female solidarity shone as well—Friendly Rivalry offered a fresh twist on youth dramas, while A Virtuous Business gave dimension to everyday housewives pushing back against violence, neglect, and prejudice.
The “Bechdel Choice 10” was selected from 102 series released between June 2024 and May 2025 across broadcast, cable, and streaming platforms, based on seven criteria including meaningful female characters, non–male-centered dialogue, and non-stereotypical portrayals.
Programmer Lee Hwa Jeong noted the significance of the trend: “What was once seen as an industry risk—female-centered narratives—are now being realized in diverse ways depending on platform and vision. The expansion has made room for experiments rarely seen in the film industry, with women’s stories emerging as one of the clearest changes in recent years.”
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Source: DGK
