Abstract
This paper examines the reasons for the increase in female representation in South Korean politics in the early 21st century. It is not a direct outcome of Korea’s democratisation process but a result of attitudinal change as well as the efforts of women’s organisations. The Korean experience shows that female representation in parliaments is not the only way to influence politics and policies on women’s issues. This paper starts with a general discussion of democratic procedures that influence female representation before looking at their application in South Korea. Coinciding with procedural changes, societal transformation paved the way for the advancement of women in the public sphere. Women’s organisations play an important role in promoting gender equality and women’s policies, especially since the late 1990s after they started to engage with the state. Their efforts included the introduction of quotas that allowed more women to enter formal elective politics, more than doubling the number of successful women in the 2004 parliamentary elections. Further steps are needed, however, to ensure sustainable and irreversible progress.
Highlights
Over the last 60 years, the Republic of Korea has undergone a dramatic transformation process
This paper focuses on Korean politics and argues that democratisation has not yet delivered equal representation for women
Without the pressure from female politicians, legislative changes in favour of gender equality are low on the agenda of parliament
Summary
The average number of years in school for women rose from 6.6 years in 1980 to 9.8 years in 2000. In 2004, female representation in the National Assembly more than doubled to 13 per cent (from 16 to 39 female lawmakers) Despite these increases, the majority of Korean women show little engagement in politics but serve only as an audience. Despite low levels of female legislative representation, South Korea has introduced progressive women’s policies that are more advanced than in other countries with higher levels of female representation. This suggests that there is more than one way of influencing political procedures and policies in favour of women and the number of women in representative positions alone cannot be used to assess the progress of women’s advancement. Gender equality is largely overlooked in the democratisation process, by actors as well as by analysts
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