Published by the Atlantic
Opposition to women’s rights has helped fuel authoritarian movements in Russia, Hungary, Brazil, and the United States. That the same is true in South Korea, which is holding an early presidential election tomorrow, is perhaps less well known. There, the role of anti-feminists is particularly stark, helping to put women’s issues at the very center of the country’s fraught contest.
To appreciate the stakes, recall that just a few months ago, South Korea nearly lost its democracy: On December 3, then-President Yoon Suk Yeol shut down the Parliament, banned all political parties, and suspended the free press. His power grab was swiftly defeated by mass demonstrations and a heroic parliamentary effort—members climbed fences to reach the chamber, where they unanimously voted to lift martial law—but the shock remained. Why was a country known for technological prowess, slick horror films, and dreamy boy bands descending into chaos?
The answer lies in part with the country’s struggle over women’s rights. Even as South Korea has raced ahead economically, gender equality has lagged behind other indicators. Out of 146 countries indexed by the World Economic Forum, South Korea comes 112th in women’s economic participation and 100th in women’s educational attainment (only slightly better than Iran).
For longer than it has had a democracy, South Korea has had a women’s-rights movement pressing to improve these conditions. In the late 1980s, a labor activist named Kwon In-sook filed charges against the government for sexual assault she allegedly suffered at a police station. Dozens of women’s organizations came together to support her in a coalition known as the Korean Women’s Associations United. KWAU wound up playing an important role in the country’s democratic transition, and Kwon herself served as a member of Parliament until last year.
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