East Asia

Citation:

Kim, Seung-kyung, and Kyounghee Kim. 2011. “Gender Mainstreaming and the Institutionalization of the Women’s Movement in South Korea.” Women’s Studies International Forum 34 (5): 390–400. doi:10.1016/j.wsif.2011.05.004.

Authors: Seung-kyung Kim, Kyounghee Kim

Abstract:

This article examines the relationship between the women's movement and the government over the two women-friendly administrations in South Korea (1997–2007), a period marked by flourishing civil society activism and participatory democracy. As the Korean government transformed from a military dictatorship to a participatory democracy, the women's movement became increasingly involved in policy making and formulating legal changes. By the end of 2007, the Korean government had established or rewritten numerous far-reaching laws in order to rectify gender inequality. However, many feminist activists and scholars are asking whether the very success of Korean gender policy resulted in the institutionalization and demobilization of the women's movement. This study will focus on the dynamics of cooperation, tension, and conflict between feminist organizations and formal politics in order to analyze the trajectory of institutionalization during the ten-year period of women-friendly administrations.

Topics: Feminisms, Gender, Women, Gender Mainstreaming, Gendered Discourses, Governance, Post-Conflict Governance, Political Participation, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction Regions: Asia, East Asia Countries: South Korea

Year: 2011

Citation:

Avenarius, Christine B. 2012. “Immigrant Networks in New Urban Spaces: Gender and Social Integration: Gendered Immigrant Networks in New Urban Spaces.” International Migration 50 (5): 25–55. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2435.2009.00511.x.

Author: Christine B. Avenarius

Abstract:

This article investigates how dispersed settlement in areas of urban sprawl affects the structure of personal networks that in turn influences the likelihood of social integration among male and female immigrants from Taiwan. Settlement in the deconcentrated spaces that currently constitute the new urban spaces of U.S. metropolitan areas potentially offers more opportunities to interact with ethnically diverse people than the traditional ethnic enclaves of inner cities. However, these spatial structures also increase dependency on cars and road systems. Findings from ethnographic fieldwork in Orange County, California, show that the social networks of affluent first generation immigrants from Taiwan are not comparable to the densely knit broadly based ties linking neighbors and kin group members traditionally attributed to immigrants.

Instead, the social networks of immigrants with high levels of human and economic capital are based on loosely bounded, sparsely knit, and dynamic specialized ties. At the local level networks involve few ties to extended relatives, but a substantial amount of relationships with former classmates and members of recreational associations. However, despite good English skills and employment in diverse workplaces the number of interactions with nonimmigrants outside of work and school environments is rather small.

These circumstances are experienced differently by men and women. Female immigrants consider living in the deconcentrated spaces of master-plan communities beneficial for achieving personal contentment. They welcome the changed conditions for social interaction and enjoy the decrease in network size and frequency of contacts that result in less obligations and responsibilities compared to life back in their country of origin. Male immigrants, however, mourn the loss of opportunities to gain reputation and social recognition. They would prefer to live in areas with close spatial proximity of immigrant residences. These gendered evaluations further affect the likelihood of social integration for first generation immigrants.

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Migration, Gender, Women Regions: Asia, East Asia Countries: Taiwan

Year: 2012

Citation:

Herr, Ranjoo Seodu. 2015. “Can Transnational Feminist Solidarity Accommodate Nationalism? Reflections from the Case Study of Korean ‘Comfort Women.’” Hypatia 31 (1): 41–57.

Author: Ranjoo Seodu Herr

Abstract:

This article aims to refute the “incompatibility thesis” that nationalism is incompatible with transnational feminist solidarity, as it fosters exclusionary practices, xenophobia, and racism among feminists with conflicting nationalist aspirations. I examine the plausibility of the incompatibility thesis by focusing on the controversy regarding just reparation for SecondWorld War “comfort women,” which is still unresolved. The Korean Council at the center ofthis controversy, which advocates for the rights of Korean former comfort women, has been criticized for its strident nationalism and held responsible for the stalemate. Consequently, the case of comfort women has been thought to exemplify the incompatibility thesis. I argue against this common feminist perception in three ways: first, those who subscribe to the incom-patibility thesis have misinterpreted facts surrounding the issue; second, the Korean Council’s nationalism is a version of “polycentric nationalism,” which avoids the problems of essentialist nationalism at the center of feminist concerns; and, third, transnational feminist solidarity is predicated on the idea of oppressed/marginalized women’s epistemic privilege and enjoins that feminists respect oppressed/marginalized women’s epistemic privilege. To the extent that oppressed/marginalized women’s voices are expressed in nationalist terms, I argue that feminists committed to transnational feminist solidarity must accommodate their nationalism.

Topics: Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Nationalism, Sexual Violence, Rape, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, Sexual Slavery, SV against Women Regions: Asia, East Asia Countries: North Korea, South Korea

Year: 2015

Relevant Links: Can Transnational Feminist Solidarity Accommodate Nationalism? Reflections from the Case Study of Korean “Comfort Women”

Citation:

Qin, Yanyun, Ya Zhou, Fang Fan, Shijian Chen, Rong Huang, Rouna Cai, and Ting Peng. 2016. “Developmental Trajectories and Predictors of Prosocial Behavior Among Adolescents Exposed to the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake.” Journal of Traumatic Stress 29 (1): 80–87. doi:10.1002/jts.22064.

Authors: Rouna Cai, Shijian Chen, Fang Fan, Rong Huang, Ting Peng, Yanyun Qin, Ya Zhou

Abstract:

This longitudinal study examined the developmental trajectories of prosocial behavior and related predictors among adolescents exposed to the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. At 6-, 18-, and 30-months postearthquake, we followed a sample of 1,573 adolescents. Self-report measures were used to assess earthquake exposure, postearthquake negative life events, prosocial behavior, symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, social support, and coping style. Data were analyzed using growth mixture modeling and multinomial logistic regressions. Four trajectories of postearthquake prosocial behavior were identified in the sample: (a) high/enhancing (35.0%), (b) high/stable (29.4%), (c) low/declining (33.6%), and (d) low/steeply declining (2.0%). Female gender, more social support, and greater positive coping were significant factors related to a higher probability of developing the high/enhancing trajectory. These findings may be helpful for us to identify adolescents with poor prosocial behavior after exposure to earthquakes so as to provide them with appropriate intervention.

Topics: Environment, Environmental Disasters, Gender, Gender Analysis, Health, Mental Health, PTSD, Trauma Regions: Asia, East Asia Countries: China

Year: 2016

Citation:

McGregor, Katharine. 2016. “Emotions and Activism for Former So-Called ‘Comfort Women’ of the Japanese Occupation of the Netherlands East Indies.” Women’s Studies International Forum 54 (January): 67–78. doi:10.1016/j.wsif.2015.11.002.

Author: Katharine McGregor

Abstract:

This paper begins to chart the history of the understudied topic of Indonesian activism for the so called ‘comfort women’ of the Japanese military from World War Two. It asks how and why activists in the specific historical context of New Order Indonesia, the cultural context of Indonesia, the global rise in human rights claims and a new openness to war redress in Japan were variously constrained and enabled in their advocacy. Drawing on recent research into the history of emotions and social movements the paper analyses how and why Indonesian activists appealed to certain emotions to gain support within Indonesia and Japan for compensation. A focus on emotions and the political and cultural contexts surrounding early Indonesian activism allows us to better understand the local framing, reception and outcomes of this global protest movement in Indonesia.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Rights, Human Rights Regions: Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia Countries: Indonesia, Japan

Year: 2016

Citation:

Lahiri-Dutt, Kuntala, and Martha Macintyre, eds. 2006. Women Miners in Developing Countries: Pit Women and Others. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Authors: Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt, Martha Macintyre

Abstract:

"Bringing together a range of case studies of women miners in Asia, the Pacific Region, Latin America and Africa, this book makes visible the roles and contributions of women as miners. It also highlights the importance of engendering small and informal mining in the developing world as compared to the early European and American mines" (Abstract from WorldCat).

Annotation:

Topics: Development, Extractive Industries, Gender, Women Regions: Africa, Americas, South America, Asia, East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Oceania Countries: Bolivia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines

Year: 2006

Citation:

Saito, Fumie. 2012. “Women and the 2011 East Japan Disaster.” Gender and Development 20 (2): 265–79.

Author: Fumie Saito

Abstract:

This article describes the gender issues that have emerged after the earthquake and tsunami that hit East Japan in March 2011, and how the government and society responded to these issues. The gender issues that emerged were not new; rather, they repeated what had already happened following earlier emergencies in Japan, indicating a failure on the part of the government to integrate a gender perspective into emergency planning and response, and ongoing gender inequality in Japanese society.

Keywords: disaster response, women’s participation, government policy, East Japan Disaster, reconstruction

Topics: Environment, Environmental Disasters, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Governance Regions: Asia, East Asia Countries: Japan

Year: 2012

Citation:

Gorman-Murray, Andrew, Scott McKinnon, and Dale Dominey-Howes. 2014. “Queer Domicide: LGBT Displacement and Home Loss in Natural Disaster Impact, Response, and Recovery.” Home Cultures 11 (2): 237–61. doi:10.2752/175174214X13891916944751.

Authors: Andrew Gorman-Murray, Scott McKinnon, Dale Dominey-Howes

Abstract:

This article examines lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans (LGBT) experiences of displacement, home loss, and rebuilding in the face of natural disasters. LGBT vulnerability and resilience are little studied in disaster research; this article begins to fill this gap, focusing on LGBT domicide—how LGBT homes are “unmade” in disasters. To do this, we critically read a range of non-government, scholarly, and media commentaries on LGBT experiences of natural disasters in various settings over 2004–12, including South Asia, the USA, Haiti, and Japan. Additionally, we utilize preliminary data from pilot work on LGBT experiences of 2011 disasters in Brisbane, Australia, and Christchurch, New Zealand. we find that disaster impacts are the first stage of ongoing problems for sexual and gender minorities. Disaster impacts destroy LGBT residences and neighborhoods, but response and recovery strategies favor assistance for heterosexual nuclear families and elide the concerns and needs of LGBT survivors. Disaster impact, response, and recovery “unmakes” LGBT home and belonging, or inhibits homemaking, at multiple scales, from the residence to the neighborhood. we focus on three scales or sites: first, destruction of individual residences, and problems with displacement and rebuilding; second, concerns about privacy and discrimination for individuals and families in temporary shelters; and third, loss and rebuilding of LGBT neighborhoods and community infrastructure (e.g. leisure venues and organizational facilities).

Keywords: LGBT, disasters, domicide, home, 'courtroom justice', home loss, shelter, rebuilding

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Environment, Environmental Disasters, LGBTQ Regions: Americas, Caribbean countries, North America, Asia, East Asia, South Asia, Oceania Countries: Haiti, Japan, New Zealand, United States of America

Year: 2014

Citation:

Yoshimizu, Ayaka. 2009. “‘Hello, War Brides’: Heteroglossia, Counter-Memory, and the Auto/Biographical Work of Japanese War Brides.” Meridians 10 (1): 111. doi:10.2979/mer.2009.10.1.111.

Author: Ayaka Yoshimizu

Abstract:

This article examines “Hello, War Brides,” a series of short, auto/biographical essays authored by two Japanese war brides from the state of Washington. I view this text as a product of collaborative “memory work.” Based on a textual analysis of its narratives and form, I argue that this work represents individual war brides' memories as counter-memories that provide a new understanding of the experiences of Japanese war brides. Such an understanding could be thought of as an alternative to the monolithic and stigmatized images of Japanese war brides, imposed primarily by the Japanese mainstream media against which these women have struggled for decades. The production of the text also worked to reconstruct and renew the women's own memories in a positive light and to create a new form of community of remembrance. This essay aims to shed light on both the literary and the social significance of “Hello, War Brides” as a way to re-evaluate the Japanese war brides' transnational movement that has taken place in the years after its publication.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women Regions: Asia, East Asia Countries: Japan

Year: 2009