South Korea

Citation:

Mee, K. H. 1998. “Power and Representation: The Case of South Korean Women Workers.” Asian Journal of Women's Studies 4 (3): 61–108.

Author: K. H. Mee

Abstract:

This article focuses on South Korean working class women's political and cultural negotiation in the contexts of the South Korean labor movement of the late 1980s and the ever-evolving international division of labor. Based on an in-depth case study of a labor dispute in a U.S.-owned multinational corporation, it raises issues about how women workers in the international circuit of global capitalism are represented. By looking at how a labor struggle, waged by women workers against a multinational company's (MNC) factory closure, is presented in the realm of media representation and other writings, this article attempts to show how their struggle became a ground of discourse formation, reflecting diverse political interests. This is done by looking at the process of their struggle in the national and transnational space. The workers' own narratives, the media's presentation of their struggle, and the workers' own perception of it, are examined. While this article shows how the Korean women worker's struggle becomes a ground of discourse formation, reflecting varied political interests, it also focuses on how the workers manipulate their own images in a sophisticated way in vying for support from a broader audience. I define this as a specific form of "subaltern" representation and argue that gender images operate as core symbols of labor activities and constitute an important symbolic framework for the international division of labor. Since this case highlights diverse aspects of the conditions of Korean women workers' struggle, cutting across divisions of gender, class, and nation, it offers an arena for understanding the female subject in the process of globalization, which involves a complicated nexus of power and representation.

Topics: Class, Economies, Gender, Women, Media, Globalization, Livelihoods, Nationalism, Multi-National Corporations, Political Participation Regions: Asia, East Asia Countries: South Korea

Year: 1998

Citation:

Kim, Min Hoe 김민회. 2009. “Subalternization of Asian Women Workers in American Transnational Capitalism in the Late Twentieth Century.” Journal of American Studies 41 (1): 45–71.

Author: Min Hoe Kim 김민회

Abstract:

One thing which Asian American scholars in the late twentieth century have considered as the most controversial issue in relation to Asian women subjectivity is how to recover visibility of Asian women subject and relocate them from the subalternized positions in the processes of multinational, corporate capitalism which collude with the local patriarchies and constantly-reinvented traditions by them. Gayatri Spivak indicates that those systems have erased the Asian women workers' desire not only for becoming an independent subject for those phllucentric labor systems but also for being a consuming subject to which they have produced by themselves. Similarly, Grace Chang, Evelyn Hu-DeHart, Aihwa Ong, and Andrew Ross argue that Asian and Asian immigrant workers have been placed at a doubly oppressive subject by domestic and international economic systems of labor division. By examining the subcontract system and sweatshops which substantially reinforce the collusion of local patriarchal social and economic system with the transnational capitalism, this essay reveals how the transnational corporations manipulate the cheap labor of Asian female workers without facing moral responsibility using subcontract system and further examine ethnic-based advertisement to the Asian countries at which their plants are located. The purpose of this essay is to raise such controversial issues in relation to two patriarchal economic systems on the surface and conclusively seek an alternative to centerizing women subjectivity from the marginalized and sublaternized positions by examining one Korean struggle with local and transnational capitalism.

Topics: Economies, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Livelihoods, Multi-National Corporations Regions: Asia, East Asia Countries: South Korea

Year: 2009

Citation:

Tung, Rosalie L. 2008. “Do Race and Gender Matter in International Assignments To/from Asia Pacific? An Exploratory Study of Attitudes among Chinese.” Human Resource Management 47 (1): 91–110.

Author: Rosalie L. Tung

Abstract:

Based on a survey of EMBA students in China and South Korea, this article examines how two sensitive but potentially salient criteria—race and gender—affect the selection of an executive to head the (a) foreign operations of a U.S. multinational in China and South Korea and (b) newly acquired U.S. operations of a Korean multinational. The results reveal a fairly complex picture of how gender, race, and the interplay of these two factors might affect these decisions. In the Korean sample, competencies mattered more than race and gender in a senior executive appointment to the U.S. operations of Korean multinationals. Also in the Korean sample, race and gender outweighed competencies in assignments to Korea. In the Chinese sample, competencies outweighed race and gender in a senior executive appointment in China. Overall, Koreans had a more positive attitude toward foreign-born Koreans than the Chinese toward foreign-born Chinese for senior executive appointments. Implications for international human resource management and diversity management, both theoretical and applied, are discussed. 

Topics: Economies, Gender, Multi-National Corporations, Race Regions: Americas, North America, Asia, East Asia Countries: China, South Korea, United States of America

Year: 2008

Citation:

Budlender, Debbie, and Guy Hewitt. 2002. Gender Budgets Make More Cents: Country Studies and Good Practice. London, UK: Commonwealth Secretariat.

Authors: Debbie Budlender, Guy Hewitt

Abstract:

This Commonwealth Secretariat publication by Debbie Budlender and Guy Hewitt (2002), documents "good practice" in gender budget work from across the globe. Practitioners share their first-hand experiences and in-depth knowledge of the why, where and how of gender responsive budget (GRB) initiatives. They reflect on both the challenges and successes of initiatives in the Andean region, Australia, Korea, Mexico, the Philippines, Rwanda, Scotland, South Africa and the UK. A chapter on the Commonwealth Secretariat's involvement in developing and implementing GRB initiatives is also included to suggest the role that can be played by external agencies at the national, regional and international level.

This book builds on a previous publication, Gender Budgets Make Cents, which was designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of GRB initiatives. It described the conceptual framework, evolution of the work and lessons learned, and provided brief summaries of country initiatives. Together, these titles show the importance of integrating a gender perspective into budgetary policies to promote equality between women and men. 

(Abstract from UN Women)

Topics: Gender, Gender Budgeting Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, Americas, North America, Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe, Northern Europe, Oceania Countries: Australia, Mexico, Philippines, Rwanda, South Africa, South Korea, United Kingdom

Year: 2002

Citation:

Soh, Chung-Hee Sarah. 1993. "Sexual Equality, Male Superiority, and Korean Women in Politics: Changing Gender Relations in a "Patriarchal Democracy." Sex Roles 28 (1-2): 73-90.

Author: Chung-Hee Sarah Soh

Topics: Democracy / Democratization, Development, Gender, Women, Men, Gender Roles, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Gender Hierarchies Regions: Asia, East Asia Countries: South Korea

Year: 1993

Citation:

Harrington, Carol. 2003. “Peacekeeping and Prostitution in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo.” Paper presented at the 5th European Feminist Research Conference, Lund, August 20-23.

Author: Carol Harrington

Abstract:

This paper compares the organisation of sexual violence in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo during UN operations to the sexual violence associated with US military bases in the Republic of Korea (ROK) during the 1970s, while also drawing some comparisons with the way sexual violence was organised in wartime Yugoslavia. I argue that in all of these cases military men agree that soldiers are entitled to heterosexual encounters, and thus provide women for soldiers to have sex with, treating the women concerned as people whose well- being, dignity and bodily integrity is of no relevance at all. Such sexual violence appears to be institutionalised across contemporary militaries. However, the political logic that categorises women as people to be protected or as people who have no rights to bodily integrity differs across sites. My enquiry is based in a sociology of the body that treats sexual violence as political violence, thus I expect that the sexual categorisation and organisation of women for soldiers will reveal important aspects of the political order the militaries involved are defending. I will elaborate on this theoretical perspective in relation to the three cases in the course of my discussion. Through comparing these three military contexts I seek to understand how military thinkers in the case of Bosnia and Kosovo divided people in relation to physical security and rights to bodily integrity, and thus to uncover the logic of the political order these peacekeeping operations defended. (Intro)

Topics: Gender, Women, Men, Masculinity/ies, Femininity/ies, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Militarization, Peacekeeping, Peace Processes, Rights, Human Rights, Women's Rights, Sexual Violence, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, Sexual Slavery, SV against Women, Trafficking, Sex Trafficking, Violence Regions: Asia, East Asia, Europe, Balkans, Eastern Europe Countries: Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Korea, South Korea

Year: 2003

Citation:

Zimelis, Andris. 2009. “Human Rights, the Sex Industry and Foreign Troops: Feminist Analysis of Nationalism in Japan, South Korea and the Philippines.” Cooperation and Conflict 44 (1): 51-71. 

Author: Andris Zimelis

Abstract:

This article explores the relationship between prostitution, nationalism and foreign policies using a feminist analysis framework. Although scholars have dealt with the theoretical role of women in nationalist projects, there is little work factually supporting these theories. There is also a paucity of works demonstrating the role of prostitution in national security policies. This article rectifies these shortcomings and demonstrates that, although prostitution is illegal in Japan, South Korea and the Philippines, these governments have played an active role in supporting and maintaining the prostitution industry geared at servicing US troops. The US troops, in turn, have protected the national security of each of these countries for all of the post-Second World War era. In this context, it seems clear that `national security' does not include the physical, economic, legal and social insecurity of Japanese, Korean and Filipino women despite their contribution to the most quintessential Realist policy — national security.

Topics: Feminisms, Gender, Women, Gender Analysis, Livelihoods, Sexual Livelihoods, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Nationalism, Political Participation, Rights, Human Rights, Security, Trafficking, Sex Trafficking Regions: Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia Countries: Japan, Philippines, South Korea

Year: 2009

Citation:

Kwon, Insook, Dong-Ok Lee, Elli Kim, and Hyun Young Kim. 2007. “Sexual Violence among Men in the Military in South Korea.” Journal of Interpersonal Violence 22 (8): 1024-42.

Authors: Insook Kwon, Dong-Ok Lee, Elli Kim, Hyun Young Kim

Abstract:

This research is about sexual violence among men in the military in South Korea. The authors investigated the frequencies, causes, and circumstances surrounding sexual violence and looked for characteristic features of sexual violence among men in the military in South Korea. They found a high frequency of physical sexual violence and a high level of repetition of sexual violence. Of perpetrators, 81.7% had themselves been victimized. However, the soldiers tended to minimize sexual violence, preferred not to address the issue if possible, criticized or ignored the victims, and did not trust the reporting procedures in place. The authors found that sexual violence was mobilized as a tool in the military to control hierarchy and to create certain masculinities. Regarding the relevance of masculinity, as a salient feature of militaries ingeneral, they believed it might emerge as a common feature across national and cultural differences.

Keywords: conscription, masculinity, military, sexual violence

Topics: Gender, Men, Masculinity/ies, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Sexual Violence, Male Perpetrators, SV against Men Regions: Asia, East Asia Countries: South Korea

Year: 2007

Citation:

Chang, Hyekyung, and Youngran Kim. 2002. “A Study on Family Stability and Social Adjustment of North Korean Refugees and Women’s Role.” Women's Studies International Forum 18: 137-59.

Authors: Hyekyung Chang, Youngran Kim

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Refugees, Gender, Women Regions: Asia, East Asia Countries: North Korea, South Korea

Year: 2002

Citation:

Argibay, Carmen M. 2003. “Sexual Slavery and the ‘Comfort Women’ of World War II.” Berkeley Journal of International Law 21 (2): 375–89.

Author: Carmen M. Argibay

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, International Law, International Criminal Law, Justice, International Tribunals & Special Courts, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Rights, Human Rights, Sexual Violence, Sexual Slavery, Sexuality Regions: Asia, East Asia Countries: Japan, North Korea, South Korea

Year: 2003