Feminism after the 2022 Presidential Election in Korea

Feminism after the 2022 Presidential Election in Korea

April 13, 2022

Event Description
On March 9, 2022, candidate Yoon Seok-yeol of the People Power Party, who showed a lack of understanding of feminism and pledged to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, was elected as Korea’s 20th president. Due to his ignorance of feminist issues and conservative views on labour, disability, migration, sexual minorities, peace, and climate agendas, Korean society is likely to witness setbacks in democracy and human rights. The meaning of this election must be considered not only in light of the People Power Party and its candidate Yoon Seok-yeol, but also in light of the changes in Korea's political and social topography and the impact of the political changes in 2017, following the election of President Moon. In this lecture, Na Young explores the current state of gender policies and the feminist movement in Korea as well as the sociopolitical landscape and policy changes that began in 1997, along with the direction of the feminist movement in Korea after 2022.

SPEAKER
NA YOUNG
Chair of SHARE center for Sexual rigHts And Reproductive JusticE
Na Young is an activist of South Korea. She is co-founder of SHARE center for Sexual rigHts And Reproductive JusticE. She worked for the Cultural Action and the Network for Glocal Activism and struggled for the decriminalization of abortion since 2010 when the abortion issue emerged as social agenda in South Korea. She launched the Joint Action for Reproductive Justice in 2017 and founded SHARE center for Sexual rigHts And Reproductive JusticE in 2019 with other activists, lawyers, doctors, and researchers. She contributed the paper “The Role of Reproductive Justice Movements in Challenging South Korea’s Abortion Ban” to the Health and Human Rights Journal in 2019 with Sunhye Kim and Yurim Lee. Her main interests are in SRHR (Sexual and Reproductive Health and Right), queer activism, and glocal activism.

This virtual event is organized by Laam Hae (Politics, York University)

This virtual event is presented by the Korean Office for Research and Education (KORE), which is funded by the Academy of Korean Studies. This event is co-sponsored by the Centre for the Study of Korea (CSK) at University of Toronto.

This is a free event but registration is required. Upon registration, you will receive a Zoom link.