President Park Geun-Hye of South Korea: A Woman President without Women?

Abstract

This article explores the first female president of South Korea, Park Geun-Hye, and her substantive representation of women. Though Park is one of many women executives from Asia taking the family route to power, her presidency still may lead to the implementation of women-friendly policies once elected. Park's government has expanded women-related policy areas first developed by previous progressive governments, but not consistently. Though mixed, her performance shows improvement over the previous conservative president, who shares Park's party affiliation. Since we can control for partisanship, Park administration's efforts on behalf of women prove particularly compelling. While advantaged by her political lineage, her government offers important policy benefits to women.

Circling the Wagons: How Perceived Injustice Increases Female Bureaucrats’ Support for Female Political Leaders

“…The country is a patriarchal society for its level of development, which made Park's initial election significant for gender equality advocates. Despite her mixed record on advocating for women, some evidence shows women supported her in greater numbers in 2012 than they would for a typical conservative party candidate, suggesting that gender played a role in her election (Lee and Jalalzai 2017). Additionally, many advocates expressed concern that impeachment by an overwhelmingly male legislature would set South Korea's women's equality movement back 2 .…”

A Trailblazer or a Barrier? Dynastic Politics and Symbolic Representation of the First Female President of South Korea, Park Geun-hye

“…Her term as the party chair deepened factionalism, rewarding or punishing party members for their loyalty, with women members often becoming the victims of such turf wars (Lee and Shin 2016, 364). Park did not propose any bills related to women during her legislative terms (Lee and Jalalzai 2017), even though conservative female legislators in Korea were proactively promoting women-friendly bills between 2000 and 2016 (Lee 2019b). While she highlighted her image as a selfless daughter continuing her father’s political legacy throughout her political career (Shin 2018), she emphasized the “first woman” aspect of her presidential candidacy only during the final month of her campaign (Lee 2017).…”

Gender Matters in Tsai Ing-wen’s First Term: The First Woman President, the Cabinet Appointments, and Same-Sex Marriage in Taiwan

“…Two recent cases in northeast Asia suggest the pattern O'Brien et al identified may explain women's cabinet appointments better than the trend in Latin America. In South Korea, Park Geunhye, the country's first woman president, nominated fewer women cabinet members than her predecessors, contrary to her campaign pledge (Lee and Jalalzai, 2017). Abe Shinzo, the longest-serving former prime minister of Japan, promoted "Womenomics" to increase women's participation in the workforce (BBC News, 2014).…”