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PUBLISHED DATE: - 19-11-2024
DOI: -
https://doi.org/10.37547/tajiir/Volume06Issue11-13
PAGE NO.: - 215-219
PARTICIPATION OF KOREAN WOMEN IN
POLITICAL LIFE
Laziza Alimova
Lecturer, Tashkent State University of Oriental Studies, Uzbekistan
INTRODUCTION
South Korean women's participation in politics
began with the resistance movement against
Japanese
colonization.
Women
actively
participated in the independence movement. One
example is the First March movement in 1919,
during which many women dedicated their lives to
the struggle for the country's independence as
active supporters and volunteers. However, these
independent female activists were unknown until
they became the subject of research by feminist
scholars [1].
Among the women resistance leaders, three
women became politicians in the newly
established South Korean government, namely
Shin Yim-yeon, Jeong Pak-soon, and Suk Pak-hyun.
After liberation from Japan, the people formed
political parties for women. Shin Yim-yeon formed
the first political party called Daehan yoja
kukmindang (National Party of Korean Women) in
1945, while Jeong Pak-soon organized Konguk
bunyo dongmaeng (Women's Alliance for National
Construction), which tried to promote women's
participation in the construction projects of the
South Korean government in 1948, and Suk Pak-
hyun organized Ibuk yosong dongiho (Northern
Women's Scholarship Association) [1]. The
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Open Access
Abstract
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participation of South Korean women in the
political life of the country can be divided into
three periods: the period from 1948 to 1961; the
modernization period from the 1960s to 1970s
under the Park Chung-hee regime; and, the
democratic transition from the mid-1980s.
According to the observations of South Korean
researcher Seo Bong-sook [1],, women's
participation in politics during the first period was
carried out by a few pioneering women. Moreover,
they were passive in matters concerning women
and did not consider themselves to be acting on
behalf of women. In the Confucian tradition,
women's participation in politics was very limited,
unlike men, who were encouraged to succeed as
scholar-bureaucrats with Confucian teachings.
Only a few women who belonged to well-known,
privileged families and had a high social
background were appointed to government
positions by the government.
In the second period, some prominent women
participated in supporting the authoritative
government, but there were also changes
influenced by two things. First, from 1982 to 1997,
the democratic movement developed in South
Korea, which strengthened the understanding of
the need for women to participate in political life.
During this period, rapid social changes occurred;
both low-wage women and educated professional
women participated in social and economic
activities. Second, the women's movement was
influenced by the global wave of women's
organizations, such as the proclamation of
International Women's Year by the United Nations
in 1975, and from that time on, women's
movements became more active. In addition, with
the introduction of local autonomy, the transition
to democratic political government and rapid
economic development in the 1980s stimulated
women's participation in political life, and this
became one of the important stages of the women's
movement [2].
Although women are underrepresented in
virtually all elected positions around the world,
women's participation in the political arena is a
growing trend in the 21st century. Until the second
decade of the 20th century, only New Zealand and
Australia granted women the right to vote in
national elections [3].
Since the founding of the Republic of Korea, under
previous dictatorial governments (Park Chung-
hee, Chun Doo-hwan), most civil movements were
aimed at establishing democracy and gender
issues were not on the agenda. Only since the
1990s have citizens begun to pay more attention to
women's participation in politics in South Korea.
The Fourth UN World Conference on Women
(Beijing, 1995)[4] proposed discussing the issue of
gender quotas. The conference emphasized the
importance of increasing women's representation
in political life and spread the idea that gender
quotas are the fastest way to achieve this goal
throughout the world.
Before 1980, only 10 countries had gender quotas,
but in the 1980s, the number increased to 12. In
the 1990s, more than 50 countries introduced
quotas, and in the 2000s, more than 40 countries
did so. There are currently 130 countries [5], with
quota systems, and more than 75 countries have
introduced quota systems since the 1995 World
Conference on Women [6].
An amendment to the Public Office Elections Act in
March 2010 introduced for the first time a
mandatory quota for women candidates in local
council constituencies, requiring political parties
to nominate more than one woman candidate per
general constituency [6].
Women in South Korea have been viewed as
largely apolitical, largely due to socialization into
gender roles at home, school, and the media [7].
With the adoption of the Constitution of South
Korea on July 17, 1948, women's rights to
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employment and education were emphasized in an
attempt to prohibit discrimination. Article 9,
paragraph 1 of the 1987 Constitution states that all
citizens of the Republic of Korea "shall be equal
before the law, and there shall be no discrimination
in political, economic, social or cultural life on the
basis of sex, religious belief, and social status." The
country's constitution also stipulates that all
citizens over the age of 19 have the right to run for
election. In the 2019 elections, the voting age was
lowered from 19 to 18 [8].
The process of women’s empowerment can be
traced back to the administration of President Kim
Dae-jung.
Kim Dae-
jung’s election as chief executive in 1997
was a milestone in women’s empow
erment in
South Korea. In the midst of the financial crisis,
Kim Dae-
jung’s campaign promised to be a
“prepared president,” a “people’s president,” and a
“women
-
friendly president”[9]. Although women
were granted the right to vote as early as 1948,
they remained marginalized in the political life of
the male-dominated Confucian society. Women
were given little attention during elections, as it
was assumed that women's decisions would
conform to their husband's idea. In the late 1990s,
political parties began to demonstrate a greater
commitment to reducing gender inequality in
order to create a modern image and attract female
voters.
In 1997, democratic consolidation in South Korea
was further strengthened when women's
participation in elections became evident, as
women constituted half of the voters. It was an
unprecedented election that showed a change in
women's consciousness, as women's active
participation in political life provided a significant
opportunity to assert their social significance in
society[9].
Kim Dae Jung's gender policy included issues of
labor, social security, family, and women's human
rights in South Korea. According to the Kim Dae
Jung government's gender policy [9]: 1) Women
were to make up 30% of the party's candidates in
all elections; 2) 30% of the positions on
government ministry committees would be
allocated to women; 3) Women's representation in
party organizations would increase by more than
30%; 4) at least four women would be appointed
to cabinet positions, and 20 to 30% of important
leadership positions would be filled by women; 5)
female students would not be discriminated
against in the entrance examinations for special-
purpose colleges (e.g., Junior Railway College,
Accountancy College, and Junior Cooperative
Agricultural College); and 6) to increase the
percentage of women recruited into the Army,
Navy, and Air Force Academies [10].
Thus, the Kim Dae-jung regime has made notable
changes to the role of women in the government’s
push for participatory democracy, but meaningful
inclusion of women in the political sphere that
goes beyond the numbers game is a key
component to achieving real progress. As Dr. Seo
Bong-sook argues: women must help the nation
achieve rapid democratization. If the Republic of
Korea’s ongoing democrat
ic experiments fail to
achieve the results achieved so far, the momentum
and unity could easily be undermined [11].
Changes in attitudes toward women among voters
and political parties have also played a role in the
increase in the number of women in politics. In the
run-up to the 2004 elections, women were seen as
a possible alternative to the existing male-
dominated politics tainted by corruption and
power struggles. Incumbent female legislators had
better performance records than their male
counterparts, helping to overcome some of the
prejudices about women’s ability to succeed in
politics. Women with parliamentary experience
fared better than their male counterparts in
elections: while two-thirds of the representatives
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in the 17th National Assembly were newcomers,
seven out of ten women who won had
parliamentary experience.
By 2004, political parties had become more
concerned with creating a modern image that
included women in their ranks. This change
resulted not only in more women in high positions
on proportional lists, but also in the selection of a
woman as party spokesperson and thus the public
face of the party. A few weeks before the April
2004 parliamentary elections, all three major
parties appointed a female speaker, marking the
first time that South Korean parties did not wait for
legislation to advance women, but did so
voluntarily. That same year, the conservative
Hannara (Great Country Party) also elected a
woman, Park Geun-hye, as party chairperson.
The election of Park Geun-hye as South Korea's
first female president on December 19, 2012,
marked a turning point for women in South Korean
politics. South Korea had not elected a woman
president since its founding in 1948 [12]. She
competed against Moon Jae-in, who will become
the country's president in snap elections from
2017 to 2022. According to South Korean experts,
Park Geun-hye's campaign team faced conflicting
demands to either emphasize traditional female
stereotypes or create a more masculine image to
offset the negative effects of gender stereotypes
[13]. Analysis of media coverage shows that Park
Geun-hye was portrayed in a more masculine light
compared to her rival [14].
Women's organizations try to influence
government policy not only through well-trained
and educated activists, but also through efforts to
mobilize the public for their goals using various
strategies such as lobbying, signature collection,
demonstrations, and issue-based advocacy.
Although women's organizations are relatively
well organized, groups that can represent
opposition are less coordinated. Conservative
groups such as Confucian organizations have only
a small number of active supporters who are
unable to mount significant opposition. Political
parties are also unable to resist legislative changes
in favor of women.
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