"coreDisableSocialShare": false, Her parental and marital status (a single woman with no children) cast doubt, especially among married women with children, that she would understand womens interests. Almost all focus group participants expressed pessimism about the future of women in politics after Parks impeachment. The economic situation in Korea is not that grave, said Sung-Yoon Lee, an assistant professor of Korean studies at Tufts University. Well, this is where the puppy comes into the picture. Thank you. Mr. Ko agreed but then left the puppy in his apartment and went golfing. Choi was later accused of using her friendship to pressure some of South Korea's biggest companies into paying money into non-profit foundations she ran, in exchange for securing favourable treatment from the government. But a South Korean woman was killed there in July 2008 by North Korean guards. Multiple participants commented that Park was not a female president and Park was just biologically a woman. Through probing, I identified two common reasons why the participants did not attribute Parks election as a sign of gender equality and progress in politics. The conservative participants tended to attribute this expectation to a lack of qualified women, whereas the liberal participants commented that Parks impeachment revealed prevailing and persistent sexism in South Korean society. A Trailblazer or a Barrier? Dynastic Politics and Symbolic Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Whereas the survey identified the overall response pattern generalizable to the population, the focus groups revealed the participants nuanced perceptions of Parks election, impeachment, and the lasting impact on womens political empowerment (Cyr Reference Cyr2017; Doody, Slevin, and Taggart Reference Doody, Slevin and Taggart2013). During the two-hour sessions, the participants discussed to which factors they attributed Parks election and impeachment, whether they thought Parks gender played a role in her impeachment, and whether the participants expected Parks impeachment would make things more difficult for other female candidates (see Table 2 for the complete focus group questionnaire). She has been part of South Korea's public history from her childhood. Analyzing an original online survey of 1,197 South Koreans and six focus groups with 35 South Korean citizens, I demonstrate that South Korean voters overall did not recognize Parks election as the first female president of the country as a symbol of womens political empowerment. The impeachment confirmed their concerns about Parks competency, as they thought she merely rode the coattails of her father without merit. Park Geun-hye: South Korea's first female president - BBC News Women were more likely to agree that Parks status as the first female president was noteworthy but the coefficient did not reach statistical significance (t = 1.84). The president of the Republic of Korea serves as the chief executive of the government of the Republic of Korea and the commander-in-chief of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces . In August 2012 the governing Saenuri Party nominated Park as their contender for the December presidential election. The election to determine Parks successor was held on May 9, 2017, and, although the Saenuri Party had renamed itself the Liberty Korea Party in an effort to distance itself from Park, the conservatives were crushed. Both men and women benefit from family ties, even though the share of women tapping into family ties is higher than mens share (Jalalzai Reference Jalalzai2013). Park did not show a strong commitment to promoting and empowering women politically. About 76 percent of eligible voters went to the polls Wednesday, a higher than expected number given the freezing temperatures. When multiple focus group participants repeatedly said Park was not a woman president, they were not questioning her gender identity. "The people are my family.". Politics, Women of Power: Half a Century of Female Presidents and Prime Ministers Worldwide, Dynasties and Democracy: The Inherited Incumbency Advantage in Japan, Public Perceptions of Womens Inclusion and Feelings of Political Efficacy, The Ties That Double Bind: Social Roles and Womens Underrepresentation in Politics, In Crisis or Decline? When a female leader ends her career in a controversial fashion, how does that affect voters perceptions of women as effective political leaders? Second, findings from this study underscore the importance of considering intersectionality in studying women leaders. As womens electoral success and political failure become more common, future comparative studies should examine whether the findings from this study can be applied to other cases. Parks impeachment would make it difficult for other women to get elected as a legislator or president.. Contrary to the expectation, however, from the beginning of her administration, there were concerns about democracy retreating due to her leadership style/qualities. Park, who will be South Koreas first female president, was aided by a national economy that grew faster than those of most other industrialized nations. Choi was eventually found guilty of corruption and influence-peddling, as was the de facto head of Samsung, one of the companies allegedly involved. Park then carried out her mother's duties for five years as the de facto first lady of South Korea. STRAUB: The most salient thing about Park Geun-hye is that she is the daughter of the former president of Korea during the 1960s and 70s, Park Chung-hee. The following month Parks top national security adviser and the director of the national intelligence service both stepped down. On December 9, 2016, the National Assembly voted to impeach Park by an overwhelming margin. Park has also campaigned on resuming talks with North Korea speaking of confrontation and hard-line policy will not win you votes. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Feature Flags: { Park, who is accused of colluding with her friend, was impeached by parliament in December 2016. Not so in South Korea. Moreover, copartisans are more responsive to the presence of a female leader. South Korea's first female president intimidated? Yeah, right Studies have shown a positive connection between the descriptive and symbolic representations of women in the form of an increased level of interest and participation in politics. She graduated from Sacred Heart Girls High School (1970) and received a bachelors degree in electrical engineering from Sogang University (1974). They vowed to work together with the government to win the Expo bid, while cheering for the campaign together with Kim, using promotional Busan Expo key rings designed in part by the first lady and emblazoned with the words "Busan is ready" and "Hip Korea." Later he realized that it was Ms. Choi. "coreDisableEcommerceForArticlePurchase": false, But South Koreans credit him for laying the foundations of Korea's economic development following the Korean War. First, some voters do not have an accurate understanding of the level of womens parliamentary representation; thus, studies based on legislatures can result in inconsistent findings (Stauffer Reference Stauffer2021). Not only do these words carry connotations of her origins in a political dynasty, but they also suggest that voters did not consider her one of them with similar life experiences and challenges. Three conservative women mentioned that Parks unmarried, childless status was a positive factor for her image, at least before her impeachment. Each group consisted of five to six participants with the same gender identity and political ideology (conservative or liberal) to create as comfortable an environment as possible for the participants to share their opinions (Cyr Reference Cyr2019; Hesse-Biber Reference Hesse-Biber2017; Morgan Reference Morgan2019), considering the political nature of the topic and the ever-widening gender and ideological polarization in Korean society. Now, like all other successful leaders who are elected in other countries, she ran on the economy. When the participants said that [Park] is not an ordinary person or she is not a woman politician, they were referring to her privilege. Park also faced public protests related to her business-friendly government policieswhich were perceived as detrimental to labour and the requirement that schools use only government-approved history textbooks. The vibrant #MeToo movement (Hasunuma and Shin Reference Hasunuma and young Shin2019); controversy surrounding online feminist communities such as Megalia and Womad (Evans Reference Evans2016); and the 2022 presidential election of Yoon Suk-yeol, whose campaign promises included the abolishment of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and penalizing false accusations of sex crimes (Gunia Reference Gunia2022; Lee Reference Lee2022) exemplify the deepening gender conflicts in the country. Existing studies of symbolic representation do not explicitly consider the fact that many women leaders are part of the social, economic, and political elite. The analysis included 1,197 responses, which amounts to 16% of the total invitations. Eleven of the 35 participants said that the prospects of electing the countrys first female president shaped positive expectations for them, but 22 people mentioned that the prospect did not excite them (see Appendix 3 in the Supplementary Materials). The participants in all six focus groups mentioned the first female president in their discussion without being prompted. This lack of acknowledgment of Parks contributions through policy making was similar to the survey pattern, in which only 17% of the respondents agreed that her administration promoted women-related policies (Table 3). Even though it is becoming less frequent, tapping into family ties is not uncommon, as evinced by the recent Philippines election in 2022, in which the son of Ferdinand Marcos and the daughter of Rodrigo Duterte became the president and vice president, respectively. Photo by Jean Chung/Bloomberg via Getty Images. Although tapping into family ties can increase the odds of womens electoral victories, such an entry into politics does little to change voters belief that politics is mens domain. Based on the literature, I test the following two hypotheses about Park Geun-hye, the first female president of South Korea and a conservative. For her supporters, Park was a proxy for her father, expected to carry on his legacy. Two doctoral students, native Korean speakers, reviewed the transcripts and video recordings for accuracy before I started coding the data. Soonja Choe has taught and conducted research at Inha University for 28 years. Render date: 2023-07-07T15:31:45.979Z Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. STRAUB: The recent North Korean missile launch probably had relatively little effect on the election campaign or the views of either of the two major party candidates. The presence of women in politics increases womens likelihood of discussing politics, contacting officials, participating in protests, and running for office (Barnes and Burchard Reference Barnes and Burchard2013; Dittmar, Sanbonmatsu, and Carroll Reference Dittmar, Sanbonmatsu and Carroll2018; Reyes-Housholder and Schwindt-Bayer Reference Reyes-Housholder, Schwindt-Bayer, Martin and Borrelli2016). Reference Haerpfer2022), shows that South Korea is one of a few countries in which trust in women as political leaders decreased after a female president or prime minister served. The participants were selected from all provinces, except Jeju Island, whose population is less than 1% of the countrys. I answered these questions by analyzing South Koreans evaluation of Park Geun-hyes legacy, utilizing original public opinion surveys and focus groups. As recently as October 2021, South Koreans rated Park Chung-hee as the best president in the countrys history, according to a Gallup Korea (2021b) poll. After serving five terms as a national legislator and chair of her party, Park Geun-hye was elected in 2012 as the first female president of South Korea. Hostname: page-component-6c5869dcc6-dtw2x Corrections? Total loading time: 0 To test the Many women leaders are part of the social, economic, and political elite. AKS-2020-R52), the American Political Science Associations 2021 Spring Centennial Center Research Grants, and the 2021 Research and Creative Activity Faculty Awards by California State University, Sacramento. Ironically, Parks failure, not her election, empowered women to participate in politics and voice their grievances. When a woman holds the highest political office of a country, she challenges the perception that such an office is not for women. Existing studies do not provide a basis for testing hypotheses, so I analyzed the focus group data inductively to observe whether the participants felt represented despite Parks dynastic connection and privileged background. He subsequently became Content Manager at PressReader. Moreover, the coast guards poor response during the crisis led to its being disbanded in November. Some studies have found a negative correlation between descriptive and symbolic representation (Esprito-Santo and Verge Reference Esprito-Santo and Verge2017; Stauffer Reference Stauffer2021). By JOOHEE CHO December 19, 2012, 8:06 AM SEOUL, South Korea, Dec. 19, 2012 -- South Korea has made history by electing a female president for the first time. The election was a hard-fought race for a country deeply split along ideological and generational lines. The president must be a South Korean citizen, at least 40 years old, who has lived in South Korea for 5 years. She moved with her family to Seoul in the 1950s and grew up in the Blue House, the South Korean presidential palace. Please check your inbox to confirm. This response pattern, along with the conservative mens connecting of Parks gender to her individual ability as the leader, showed that the conservative participants tended to individualize gender issues, whereas the liberal participants saw gender as a structural issue. Jacinda Ardern enjoyed a baby bump for womens rights as her pregnancy during her term was perceived as a step toward gender equality (Galy-Badenas and Sommier Reference Galy-Badenas and Sommier2021). Embrain provides small numbers of virtual points to the participants, which they can redeem as cash or a gift card at the end of each month. None of the groups listed specific women-related policies when asked what they considered her administrations policy successes. What impact would President-elect Park have on South Koreas relations with the United States? As an icebreaker, the focus group participants wrote three words or phrases that came to their mind when thinking about Park before her presidency (Table 2). Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. In the last several years, a lagging global economy has forced out ruling parties in several countries: France, Italy and Japan, just to name a few. April 29, 2015. The companies paid about $70 million to the two foundations, which were later revealed to be connected to Choi Soon-Sil, a close friend of Parks and the leader of a syncretic religious sect known as the Church of Eternal Life. On the other hand, he ruled very harshly, and so many people have mixed feelings about him, and lots of people either like him very much or dislike him very much. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Focus group questionnaireThe eight main questions can be translated as follows: View all Google Scholar citations Considering that none of the participants referred to President Moon Jae-in as the 18th male president of South Korea, mentioning Parks first status suggests that her being the first had registered in voters minds either positively or negatively. Alumna named first female president of South Korea's Inha University My journal reading club membersKylee J. Britzman, Danielle Joesten Martin, and Joel Mehic-Parkerhelped me keep up to date with the gender politics literature. , I included the item one of the reasons for Parks impeachment and conviction is the fact she was a woman to measure one of the key independent variables. While pursuing political leadership can be seen as violating the gender norm, being a mother can present an image of having communal qualities such as warmth (Brescoll and Okimoto Reference Brescoll and Okimoto2010). This article contributes to the study of gender and symbolic representation in two significant ways. Womens Representation and Gender Gaps in Political Participation: Do Time and Success Matter in a Cross-national Perspective? Kim formerly served as CEO of Covana Contents, a cultural contents company. In just four years South Korea's president Park Geun-went from being a trailblazer to a figure of controversy linked to a deepening corruption scandal. SEOUL, South Korea, Dec. 19, 2012— -- South Korea has made history by electing a female president for the first time. Prosecutors appealed the decision, but it was upheld by South Koreas Supreme Court in 2021. Parks 2012 opponent, Moon Jae-In, won a convincing victory, and two weeks later Parks corruption trial began in Seoul. Approximately 40% of the respondents agreed that Park being the first female president contributed to womens political representation, but only 17% of respondents thought her administration promoted policies to promote womens rights and gender equality. However, after severe corruption and nepotism scandals broke in July 2016, her presidential approval ratings started to drop dramatically. According to Mr. Ko, Choi Soon Sil ended up purchasing around 40 luxury bags from him, made of crocodile leather and ostrich skin, at the cost of tens of thousands of dollars. It was a notable achievement given that South Korea had the highest level of gender inequality in the developed world. To assess how voters evaluated Parks lasting impact on womens political empowerment, I asked two survey questions: As Parks election shattered the glass ceiling, her electoral victory would make other womens election easier than before and Parks impeachment would make it difficult for other women to be elected as a legislator or president. I expected those who attributed Parks gender to her impeachment to hold pessimistic views about other womens political advancement (the barrier hypothesis). Park Geun Hye served as the 11th president of South Korea from 2013-2017. Approximately 52% of women voted for Park and 47% for Moon Jae-in, whereas 48% of men voted for Park and 52% for Moon (Gallup Korea 2013). Therefore, shes an interesting political figure. These disagreements were eclipsed, however, when a major scandal erupted in the summer of 2016. To view supplementary material for this article, please visit http://doi.org/10.1017/S1743923X22000538. The two women's relationship stretches back to the 1970s when Choi's father, the shadowy quasi-religious figure Choi Tae-min, befriended the Park family. They thought Parks impeachment was unrelated to her gender but was absolutely related to her incompetency (see Appendix 3 in the Supplementary Materials). In 1998 Park ran for election to the National Assembly to represent the Talsng (Dalseong) district (Taegu region) as a candidate of the conservative Grand National Party. To answer these questions about disgraceful exits, privilege, and symbolic representation, I analyze how Park Geun-hyes election as the first female president of South Korea (2012) and her subsequent impeachment and conviction (201617) shaped voters perceptions of womens potential and contribution as political leaders. Park Geun-hye is conservative. But a significant part of the electorate also had become wary of economic inequality within the country. The data did not provide evidence that women voters felt more represented after the election of the first female president of the country. Hailing from a conservative party, Park was popular among older, female, and conservative voters (Kang Reference Kang2013; Kim and Choi Reference Kim and Choi2018; Lee Reference Lee2015; Yoon Reference Yoon2017; Young Reference Young2015). 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And they also agree with the basic U.S. approach: that North Korea must be pressed to give up its nuclear weapons program, and that large-scale aid should be withheld from it until its begun to move in that direction. Between 1995 and 2016, the percentage of members of parliament (MPs) from political dynasties in 24 democracies ranged between 5% and 10%, and legacy MPs in Japan represented more than 25% of all representatives (Smith Reference Smith2018). Ten of the 18 conservative participants thought the lack of competent female politicians was the problem, not discrimination against women or other societal-level problems. Since 1981, the president has been barred from re-election. Park was the daughter of the late dictator Park Chung-hee, and her electoral victory was heavily indebted to her father. I expected conservatives to express attitudes that were more favorable about Park promoting symbolic representation than their liberal counterparts (the ideological affinity hypothesis). On the other hand, women voters expressed strong disappointment and concerns about the failure of this historic first, as they linked Parks failure to the diminishment of other female leaders electoral prospects. A recent survey on voter support for Parks amnesty shows that some voters have indeed changed their position on the impeachment. The conservatives did not agree that Park would be a barrier to other women, supporting the ideological affinity hypothesis. "As you know, I have no family," Park said in a speech on Tuesday. Of the 35 participants, 24 expected that electing a second female president is unlikely anytime soon in South Korea. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science (Northwestern University) and has written numerous articles Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. The study timing should be noted. Park Geun-Hye makes history as first female president of South Korea. The conservative participants positively rated the effect of Parks election on the ability of other women to be elected (supporting the ideological affinity hypothesis); the women and liberal participants tended to disagree, but the coefficients did not reach statistical significance. As of 2020, 51% of South Koreans aged 2564 had some postsecondary education (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 2022), while 81% of the survey respondents reported having postsecondary education. hasContentIssue false, Effect of Descriptive Representation on Symbolic Representation. On December 9, 2016, more than half the legislators from her own party voted in favor of her impeachment (National Assembly Minutes 2016). Park was held in detention during the trial, and in October 2017 the court ordered that her incarceration be extended until April 2018 in response to concerns that she would attempt to destroy evidence before a verdict was reached. In November 2017, while Parks trial was ongoing, the Liberty Korea Party expelled her from its ranks, with party chairman Hong Joon-Pyo stating that it must cast off its yoke as the Park Geun-Hye party. On April 6, 2018, Park was found guilty of corruption, sentenced to 24 years in prison, and fined 18 billion won ($17 million). * p < .05. This election focused predominantly on economic and social welfare issues, and showed a sharp generational divide. Voter turnout was the highest in 15 years. View all of our World content and follow us on Twitter: Follow @NewsHourWorld That people are out of work, that young people out of college are unable to find work, employment and so forth.. Park, who will be South Korea's first female president, was aided by a national economy that grew faster than those of most other industrialized nations. So I would say North Koreas provocative missile test last week actually was intended to give momentum to the more pro-engagement, pro-North Korea candidate, Moon, who had billed himself as the candidate of peace and reconciliation. I recoded 14 as conservative and 811 as liberal and included two separate dummy variables, one for conservative and the other for liberal. Pressed by her opponents, she reluctantly apologized to the nation in September for her father's human rights abuses under his authoritarian rule. Park herself emphasized her unmarried status as a positive factor in her 2012 campaign for the same reason. I used open coding to identify emerging themes and then categorized the entries by conceptual themes (Morgan Reference Morgan2019) (See Appendix 3 in the Supplementary Materials for the counting table, including t-tests). She was reelected for four more terms as a representative in the National Assembly (19982012). Presidentas Rise: Consequences for Women in Cabinets? The two had a bitter fallout over the matter. Park Geun-Hye had long been in the spotlight of Korean society as the daughter of Park Chung-Hee, who was president of South Korea until his assassination in 1979.