bellalee

Women's roles and movements in Korean history

2 min read

  • Joseon (1392–1897/1910)
    • Extended family
    • Patriarchal and patrilineal
    • Yangban, wealthy: household manager
    • Peasants, lowborn: farm labor, village markets, palace women, palace physicians, kisaeng
    • Mother (male heir)
    • Mother-in-law: powerful
    • Ehwa Girl’s School 이화학당 (1886)
      • Ehwa College (1925) → Ehwa Women’s University (1946)
  • Colonial period (1910–1945)
    • Factory workers
    • New women
    • “Good wife, wise mother”
      • Chastity, purity culture
  • 1945–1987
    • Nuclear family, urban growth
    • Housewife
    • Mother
    • Small shops, factory labor, white-collar secretarial work
      • Expected to leave positions once married (middle-class ideal)
        • Greater honor in not working outside
      • Lower-class women maintain employment
    • Greater roles in social groups, organizations, and labor
    • Greater emphasis on education for boys and girls
      • Privileging of men over women
    • Minjung Undong (1961–1992): democratization and labor activists
  • 1970s Christian women activists against sex tourism and industry
    • Sex tourism frequented by Japanese (colonial legacy)
    • Sexual violence
    • Criticizing women’s body as products
  • 1970s/80s Women’s involvement in Democracy and Labor Movements
    • Kwan In-sook (1986): female student activist sexually tortured by police
  • 1988 Equal Employment Opportunity Acts
    • Equality in job placement, promotions, retirement, job training, maternity leave
    • No “mechanism for implementation”
  • More women enter workforce
    • Esp. after IMF crisis 1997
    • Women cheaper
  • Increase positions in government
  • Increase in advocacy
  • Changes in family law (1991)
    • Could retain child custody after divorce
    • Equal inheritance for both genders
  • 1990s Survivors of Sexual Slavery (Comfort women) Movement
  • First sexual harassment case 1993: female research assistant
  • Act on Punishment of Sexual Crimes and Protection of Victims (1994)
  • Focus on everyday sexism, sexual violence, and rape culture
    • Before, rape considered crime against chastity
  • Gangnam station murder (2016) and gender driven crimes

MeToo

  • 2006: Tarana Burke coined
    • Solidarity for gender-based violence
  • Viral 2017
    • Harvey Weinstein (October)
    • 700,000 uses in 2 days on Twitter
    • 4.7M users, 12M posts in 24hr on Facebook
  • Korea

backlash against feminism

  • “Men’s rights”
  • Feminism equated to “mental illness”
  • Election of President Yoon Suk Yeol
    • Abolished Gender Equality and Family Ministry (est. 2001)
  • Based on fear of loss of privilege

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