Protect Me!-Female-Lead

If there is something I started to dislike about female lead characters in Korean dramas, it's the point that most of them seem to be the kind of girl that desperately needs a man to take care of her.
That doesn't mean they directly ask for the male lead to protect them but just that they seem helpless and somewhat clueless from time to time.

That being said, I like princesses. More specifically I like princesses that outdrink the dragon, beat up the evil witch and don't need to wait for the prince because they're going out to get him.

Once again this is about Korean culture. In almost every country women weren't that emancipated through the centuries. In Korea, the feminist movement started as late as in the 1970's, following the democratic movement. It has only been around 40 years so it is not surprising that we still find the typical gender roles in Korean society.
Do you know what the word "oppa" actually implies? Yes, directly translated it refers to a girl's older brother but is used for older males a girl is close to as well. However, what leads to the use of this term basically is "I'm a helpless and cute girl, oppa, please take care of me". Women are expected to be cute and helpless up to a certain point to make the older males feel like they're needed. (I've got this information from a good friend of mine who's a Korean male - he himself explained the meaning to me like this and said that it's actually not a good implication.)

So analyzing the culture it's not surprising at all. Remember, there were times when we had rarely any sexy girl groups in K-Pop as well. The culture is changing but in dramas the writers seem to simply stick to the classical roles.
There are a few female characters that belong to the type of princess I prefer - just look at Jan Di in Boys Over Flowers. Now that could be me. But they are not as common as the type of female lead mentioned in the head line. Don't believe me? Well, just some examples.