Women and Democratization in the Republic of Korea

The spectacle of mass street demonstrations against authoritarian regimes by college students, activists, workers, and middle-class citizens in Korea during the late 1980s evoked dramatic images of democracy in its making. Indeed, one of the keywords in the new lexicon of civilian regimes since the inauguration of Kim Young Sam's government in 1993 has been "democratization" (minjuhwa). 1 Yet, to what extent has democratization in contemporary Korea really empowered women who have been marginalized as a social group by the structure of gender? This is an important question to consider since, despite the alluring appeal of democracy as a normative ideal for the body politic, the actual process of democratization in Korea has taken place in a specific sociopolitical context where multiple layers of inequalities have long existed. This article examines this question by focusing on women's participation in civil society and their representation in institutionalized politics in Korea since the late 1980s. It raises two central points concerning the complex relationship between women and democratization. First, democratization in Korea has been largely conservative in that it has maintained the masculinist nature of institutionalized politics. Second, although women are participating in the development of civil society, as is reflected in the revival of autonomous women's movements and associations, and this has generated some positive change in masculinist politics, the change is very unstable. The sociopolitical context continues to be characterized by its hybrid nature with elements of both Confucian governance and liberal institutions at play. These findings suggest that formal democratization is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the empowerment of women (and by implication other feminized social groups).