Chapter 1 Feminist movement in South Korea: western influence and development

1.1 Western feminism development

In this chapter I analyzed main circumstances that helped in women`s movement development in South Korea. I want to analyze the main feminist sects – as they developed in the Western world and their transformation in South Korea; the feminist movement in the Southern part of the Korean Peninsula cannot be equal to this in the West. Moreover, I will analyze the feminist movement in South Korea from different theoretical points of view.

At first, I want to analyze the history of feminism from its very emergence in short. In the western academic science it is spoken about so-called three waves of feminism. I will particularly concentrate on development of the feminist movement in the United States, as this country`s influence on the South Korean liberation movements is the most incredible. The term of three waves of feminism was firstly suggested by historians Rebecca Walker and Maggie Humm. Those periods include the following:

1. First wave. Suffrage movements, end of XIX – early XX century

2. Second wave. Campaign for social rights for women (salary, abortion), 1960s.

3. Third wave. Change of the constitutions, reaction to failures of the second wave feminist movement.⁴

Suffrage movement emerged in the end of XIX century. First-wave feminist movement was active in the Western world in general and in Canada, United Kingdom, Holland and the USA in particular. Representatives of this movement focused on gaining women`s suffrage (the voting right). Miriam Schneir supposed that the first activities in this direction emerged much more earlier: in the 15<sup>th</sup> century Christine de Pizan was defending women`s right to defend their sex, Simone de Beauvoir in the book “The second sex” provided new vision of women`s role in history. In the 18<sup>th</sup> Mary Wollstonecraft advocated moral and social equality of men and women in the work “A Vindication of the Rights of Men”. The suffrage movement reached its goals partly in 1918, when some women were allowed to vote, fully – in 1928, when women could vote equally with men. Marie Stopes published “Married Love” (1918), where she advocated equality in marriage and importance of the women`s sexual desire. This book was one of the 25 most influential of the previous 50 years – in 1935, according to the survey of American academics. This book was included alongside with “Relativity” by Einstein and “The Interpretation of Dreams” by Freud.⁵

In theory, British female society achieved the civil equality. The First World War was a sort of trigger that made women work outside home – factory work, as almost all males were on the front. Women also fought for the right to sit in the Parliament and being elected. Females also started serving on school boards and local bodies, and numbers kept increasing after the war. In this period there appeared more women that wanted to get education. For instance, in 1910 women began to attend leading medical schools, since 1915 women became members of the American Medical Association. Women were given rights to vote in the Representation of the People Act (1918) – but only if they are older than 29. However, this age was change for 21 in 1928.⁶

In 1919 The Sex Disqualification Act was removed that allowed women to occupy previously forbidden jobs and marriage was no longer a hedge for women who wanted to work outside home. In 1923 women were given the same rights for divorce as men (Matrimonial Act). However, women faced the rise of the unemployment rate (1920-1930s), which was one of the key elements of the Great Depression. Moreover, with the start of the WWII about 300 thousand American women joined the Army and Navy as typists, nurses, secretaries. Some feminist activists claim that this fact is evidence of inequality between men and women, as women did not have much opportunities to fulfill their potential.⁷

The “second-wave” feminism emerged in the late 1960s as two separate streams with different roots. The first one stems from the female activist networks during the WWII. Some of those activists were raising gender issues, some of women were active in supporting social justice and human rights campaigns. In 1930s-1940s some female activists also found support among the Communist Party – the only political arena possible for criticism of social and gender inequality. ⁸

The major event of this branch activity was a creation of NOW (National Organization for Women) in 1966. This became possible because of the support of the President Kennedy, who won the presidential elections with sympathies of female activists (some individuals participated in Democrats` actions). He allowed to establish a Presidential Commission on the Status of Women. The chairman was Eleanor Roosevelt who also participated in first-wave feminist activity. This commission published the first major report in 1963, in which it demanded for equal salaries for the comparable work, childcare services etc. In order to achieve these goals, the commission organized several networks of women`s organizations. Thus, the network became NOW. It concentrated on the equal rights for women in law and employment. This organization included a big part of working class and minor leadership. The brightest activist of this time was Betty Friedan with her book “The Feminine Mystique”. At first, the organization did not have an attempt to create a mass movement. Starting with only 30 activists on the founding conference, NOW had 250 thousand members during the campaign for ERA (Equal Rights Amendment). The agenda of NOW included employment issues – the organization cooperated with the US Women`s Bureau-Catherine East of the Women`s Bureau and Mary Eastwood of the Justice Department. NOW also initiated class-action lawsuits against sex discrimination, agitated for electing women. NOW-members had professional political skills and could influence on the appointed officials and political authorities. One of the most successful achievements was in 1967, when president Lindon Johnson issued Executive Order 11375 which prohibited any sex discrimination on the federal level.⁹ What is most important about this movement, it shows the political activity and social awareness of women in the US. This movement helped to promote women`s political activity.

The second branch of the second-wave feminism is known as women`s liberation, arose from a rebellion of these civil rights and New Left women. Its politics was different from NOW and its members were not the same: young women in their twenties, less professional, insisted on women`s separation, on radical structural changes in society. They also claimed on the existence of necessity of challenging of all spheres of male dominance – not only public, economic and legal spheres, but also private, psychological and cultural. Women`s liberation groups attracted females without any activists experience.<sup>10</sup> The key theoretical approach of this feminist branch is consciousness rising, or CR. Through this approach one raised a discussion about gender discrimination, about psychological abuse and possession of body (abortion – the main theme in this case).Activity of this movement was also different: it used agitprop, its members sent letters into newspapers, agitated against sexist advertisements, male-dominated medical practices. However, the lack of organized networks and specified program lead to the segregation of this branch. For instance, activists of the women`s liberation did not take interests of black women or women of post-colonial societies into a consideration.

Feminist activity in 1970s was connected with sexual and domestic violence issues. The Reproductive Rights National Network (known as R2N2) was successful in restriction of coercive sterilization practice.R2N2 investigated thousands of cases of forced sterilization (especially of the color women), where the blackmailing and threatening took place. As a result, the US department of Health, Education and Welfare required the prohibition of this medical practice in 1974. In 1976 West Coast feminists organized Women Against Violence Against Women (WAVAW) in order to protest against advertisements that used images of abused women. WAVAW organized action-demonstrations, painted aggressive slogans. The new organization WAP (Women Against Pornography) fought for censorship laws and state control of mass-culture more than for the rise of the consciousness. However, this activity was not supported by some feminists who later created FACT (Feminists Against Censorship Taskforce). The rivalry between WAP and FACT is called “porn wars”. In 1974 CLUW (Coalition of Labor Union Women) was founded in Chicago. CLUW trained females for union leadership and made unions to include women. The main issues for CLUW were fighting with sexual harassment, agitating for abortion rights and childcare priorities. CLUW also played a big role in changing family policy, when programs supporting non-working wives were created.¹¹

Third-wave feminism is supposed to emerge in 1990s.Like the second-wave feminism, third wave was not monolithic, including diverse approaches to feminism, gender question. There are three major tactical motives. At first, third-wave feminists provide multi-perspective version of feminism, with different branches and directions. Second, third-wavers recognize non-monolithic nature of feminism. Third, they refuse police and state boundaries of rivalries between feminist sects, especially in “sex wars”.¹²

Representatives of the third-wave feminism want their own version of feminism, that addresses diverse social context and challenges that they face. For instance, third-wavers insist on critical approach of women`s image representation in mass media, especially in case of pop-icons, beauty culture. It was more important than public policy.

In contrast to their perception of their mothers’ feminism, third-wavers feel entitled to interact with men as equals, claim sexual pleasure as they desire it (heterosexual or otherwise), and actively play with femininity. The third-wave desire for girl power seems simultaneously authentic, playful, and part of the younger generation’s project of reclamation, which also redeploys terms like “bitch,” “cunt,” and “slut.”¹³

Third-wave feminism responds to the “category of women” debates of the late 1980s and early 1990s that began with a critique of the second wave concept that women share something in common as women, for instance, common gender identification or common experience. These concepts are strongly associated with the second-wave feminism as well as with personal politics. Third wavers completely reject the statement that all the women in the world share the same experience, on the contrary, females have personal experiences – and those different personal experiences needed to become public.¹⁴