WOMEN & POLITICS

THE KOREAN INSTITUTE FOR WOMEN & POLITICS

March 2000

KIWP was established in 1989 with the aims of heightening women's political consciousness and expanding political participation. Since that time, KIWP has worked relentlessly to accomplish those objectives, both domestically and in the international arena, through a broad range of programs and undertaking. Such have included both academic and more pragmatically oriented workshops and seminars and the publication of material designed to promote strategies in support of women candidates in the electoral process. We pride ourselves on our determination and commitment to these goals and our resolve to maintain such posture until such time as genuine equality exists in the political realm.

Contents:

․Message from the Chairperson

․Women's Forum on Politics

․KIWP Major Events of 1999 - 2000

․Women in Parliament

․Political Leadership Training for Young Women

․Training of Trainers for Political Education

․The 1999 Seoul International Conference of NGOs

․Future Activities 2000

Message from Chairperson

Jung-sook KIM, Ed. D.

(Chair, KIWP/Chair, Special Committee on

Women's Affairs of the National Assembly, Republic of Korea)

We, all women in the world, believe that the 21st century would be the age of women. In the new millenium, feminity which has been inferior to masculinity will be more valued, and imagination and sensibility will be stressed.  In other words, physical power will not be a control paradigm any longer.  Human-centered universal value is ready to be realized in the 21st century, converting existing values.  Women should take the leading roles with men for peace and development of humankind.

The question is how women are preparing and planning for this new millenium as a transitional period.  Although there have been a lot of efforts for improvement of women's rights for the past century, many problems still exist unsolved in our society.  For these unsolved problems, it is necessary to specify possible plans, and prepare and accomplish them with strong will.

Under the theme of “Past, Present and Future of Korean Women's Political Participation”, we have discussed the Ten-Year Plans for the Advancement of Women's Political Participation in the commemorative seminar of the KIWP's 10th anniversary.  The efforts and changes in the past have shown the possibilities that women can challenge politics with confidence.  Through the seminar, KIWP also urged to expand advocacy activities for the spread of people's consciousness of women's political participation; to find and educate women candidates; to train them for real elections; to promote the image of women politicians; to research and study on women and politics; and to strengthen women's capability enough to lead the improvement of women's political participation inside and outside of the country.

However, gender-discriminatory government administration and women's poor understanding on political participation still disturb the accomplishment of our assertion  mentioned above.  In order to achieve our assertion, it is also needed to increase women's power in politics, reform the election and political system which is undemocratic and unfavorable to women, and educate women on politics.

The future of women's politics, of which objective is to improve women's rights and to develop the nation, should start with women's own efforts to change the society and politics.  Recently, as the judgement of the Constitutional Court on Military Service Merit System evoked a big social reflection, the efforts to break old conventions, sometimes, are bumped against unbearable oppositions.  Many women said they were trying to work for the status and right for women.  However, in reality, they have often withdrawn one step back from real revolution.

The 16th General Election is coming on 13 April 2000.  The 16th National Assembly which will lead the new millenium should be the place where all people can discuss national administration freely.  The National Assembly also should listen to the opinion of a minority, not only to that of a majority with power, and be devoted to making a proper environment to create a new culture of politics.  Based on the existing laws and acts related to women, such as the Women's Development Act, the Government, political parties, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), enterprises, media, and educational institutes have to gather their power and efforts to improve women's political participation.  Through close networking and cooperation for women's political empowerment among these actors, there must be joint activities in terms of advocacy, training and education, and other fields.

The six laws related to political revolution, including the Election Law, were passed on  8 February 2000 and finally, the 30% quota system for women became legalized.  However, the 30% quota system for women, which is the most fruitful outcome of many women's constant efforts, is still early to talk about the outcome.  To obtain practical outcomes from the system, there are a lot of tasks to be solved.  The most important thing is that women themselves should actively participate in politics and support women candidates systematically.  The parties should try to nominate as many women as possible not only in local districts but in nation-wide proportional seats while the women's groups should give substantial assistance to women candidates by training and providing volunteers for their elections.

The hopeful 21st century can come true only if people prepare and make all efforts for it.  We all know that the accomplishments for the advancement of women during the last 20th century resulted from the awakening and endeavors of many women.  The new millenium of equality, peace and development for both women and men cannot be realized without women's own endless endeavors to develop themselves as a main actor.

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16th General Election and Choice of Women Voters

KIWP held Women's Forum on Politics in the VIP Hall of the National Assembly on 16 February 2000, under the theme of the “16th General Election and Choice of Women Voters.”  Prior to the 16th General Election scheduled on 13 April, the forum provided the chance to examine the changed election circumstances and the direction of women's policies, and to discuss the role and responsibility of women voters.  KIWP expects Women's Forum on Politics to become the arena of discussion on the present political issues arising in our daily life, based on gender perspective.  This forum will be held bimonthly with the objective of pursuing a real democracy for gender equality and transformative politics through free discussion.

◎ Presentation

Women's Political Roles and Responsibilities in the Knowledge and Information Society of the 21st Century

by Dr. Sung-Jin Gong (Professor, Hanyang University/ President, Hanbek Foundation)

In the 21st century, the global political order is expected to be totally different from that of the 20th century.  For example, economic, cultural and environmental issues are significantly emerging nowadays, while military and security issues based on masculine physical power and violence were mainly highlighted in the 20th century.  Also, the information age seems to already come through the telecommunication systems, computers and Internet which are making people feel no physical distance to connect with the other side of the world.  Under this condition, hardness rather than softness, intuition rather than reasoning and creative thinking rather than fixed ideas will be emphasized.  Moreover, in the 21st century, flexibility, sensibilities and delicacy, which can be feminine characteristics, will be more valued, and post-modernism, which rejects and dismantle the hierarchical structure, will be centered.  Thus, the age when women can become main actors in politics and society is coming.

As the evidence of the age of women, their active advance in politics begun in the late 1990, and now it is the world trend.  In Ireland the female president of the Labor Party has taken the presidency since 1997, and in Bangladesh a women prime minister has led the government since 1996.  In 1999, many female presidents and female prime ministers were elected, such as in Sri Lanka, Latvia, Panama. New Zealand and Switzerland.  This tendency continues in 2000, so this year a female president was elected for the first time in Finland and a female governor for the first time in Japan.  According to the World Women's Association, until now women presidents and prime ministers have been 27 respectively since 1945 when each country approved women's suffrage. Compared to this world trend, Korean women's participation and representation in politics is still very low.  For instance, the proportion of women parliamentarians in Korea is about 3 %, which is far below the world average percentage, 12 %.

The amendment of the Election Law related to the forthcoming 16th General Election was passed at the National Assembly on 8 February 2000.  According to this amendment law, the fixed total number of members of the National Assembly was cut down from 299 to 273, and the existing voting system - 'one person one vote' - was still adopted.  More importantly, along with the amended Election Law, the amendment bill on the Political Party Act was also passed and this bill included the 30 % Quota System for women in the proportional representation.  Thanks to the amendment bill, more women are expected to advance into the National Assembly.  However, some people worry if the women are allocated in the later order which is far from being elected.  Concerning this worry, all the three political parties announced that they considered allocating women candidates within the electable range.  Hence, if the 30 % Quota System is implemented with the parties' strong will, 14 seats may go to women out of the total 46 Nation-wide Proportional Seats.  This means that the proportion of women members in the 16th National Assembly will be 10 % higher than in the 15th National Assembly.  Along with the increase of women candidates in the Nation-wide Proportional Seats, more women want to run for the election in districts.  Until now, more than 30 women applied for the party nomination.  All these phenomena tell us that now women are rushing into politics, which has been considered the men's sector, as the status of women has been uprising.  The women's acquisition of political power can show the political meaning of a half of the world population.

Nonetheless, it is the reality that Korea does not have the institutional foundations enough to guarantee this new trend of women's political participation.  In particular, each political party does not have a systematic mechanism to recruit those who wish to become political leaders.  In terms of its function and structure, this poor mechanism would be not enough to accommodate the eruptive women's desire for participation in politics.  Moreover, under the Korean patriarchic political culture, it is difficult to expect that women's political groups establish a new political party and become a parliamentary negotiating group.  Therefore, it would be effective for women to enter the political arena after learning and demonstrating their own expertise through civil organizations or non-governmental organizations.  In other words, women can develop their own specialties based on their comparative advantages to men and their special experiences as a woman, a wife and a mother, concentrating local economic and social issues.  Women's active political and social activities in their community through NGOs can be the first step for them to advance effectively into politics.

Under the age of unlimited competition among nations, each nation is striving for the improvement of its competitive power and its people's stand of living.  In order to achieve this, they regard ‘informationalization’ as the most productive means.  The introduction of the information society has a very significant political implication to women.  Women are able to expand their political arena to the cyber space where a wide network among women can be build. So-called "E-Democracy" and "Electronic Network" offer women many chances to increase their political participation in various levels which overcome the past social barriers to women in Korea.  People expect that the spread of Electronic Network will break down the old fetter of ‘indirect democracy’ distorted by gender ideology and male-dominated politics.

However, this expectation needs a premise that the level of women's utilizing information should be increased in correspondence with the level of women's desire for political participation.  In reality, as of 1996, the level of women's using information is 34, supposing that the level of men's using information is 100.  Specifically, compared to men, women only show 35 % in using personal computers, 35 % in using e-mails, 34 % in using PC communication, and 30 % in using Internet.  According to the Electronic Newspaper (1 Feb.), although the rate of female Internet users is increasing every year, the speed of the increasing rate is much slower than that of the increasing rate of male Internet users.  Furthermore, the increasing rate of the internet users among female middle- and high-school students is far lower than that among male students.  Thus, when women should be taught on efficiency of E-Democracy and application of electronic networking through public education as well as special training programs of women's organizations, the increase of women's political participation can be considered and anticipated.

◎ Discussion

by Dr. Sook-Ja Park (Policy Researcher, Special Committee on Women's Affairs of the National Assembly)

Dr. Gong presented that women's political participation would be effective when it is realized through civic movements where women exhibit their specialties.  I would like to examine that such a opinion truly has a validity.  I think, if women try to participate in politics through civil organizations which are doing 'blacklisting and reject campaign', then it might distort the substance of civic organizations and make them another political power group.  We have experienced that women politicians who were working at civic groups are easy to be politician just for one time because they have no supporting base in the parties.  Therefore, first of all, women's activities and roles in political parties should be increased.  It is also important that women ought to identify themselves as the members of political parties.  I would like to ask Dr. Gong about civic groups' expression of preference to specific political party.

There are differences between the conditions of the 16th general election and those of the previous elections, as follows.  Firstly, it is possible for voters to have more information about candidates as civic organizations, as a big power representing voters' desire, look for objective standards to judge candidates.  In the past these information are unilaterally provided by candidates, but at present they are more objective coming from various sources.  Thus, voters should make the most use of these informations.  Women groups should announce what candidates have done for the advancement of women so as to help the voters choose the candidates who would contribute to development of policies for women.  Announcing information on candidates through Internet can be a good example.  Secondly, some women's organization plan to provide financial support for woman candidates.  However, this activity may fall into a problem that all women candidates can be supported without checking their qualification.  Thirdly, the 30% quota system for women candidates in proportional representation, which the Korean women's community has longed for, was legitimized.  This means 14 seats are guaranteed for women candidates.  However, this system can be effective only if each political party has to affirm the 30% quota for women candidates in the electable range of proportional representation. Thus, women's groups and civic organizations should urge the parties to implement the system before the parties announce the list of party nominated candidates for the proportional seats.

Under this situation, what would be the implication and future actions of the 30% quota system?  The introduction of the quota system indicates that politics is not the exclusive field only for man any more.  Especially  it is meaningful to establish the quota system for women as a social institution by codifying it within the Political Party Act even though the quota is limited to proportional representation.  It is also significant for women to obtain the 30 % quota as the starting point at least.  As a future action, we should improve the limitations of the Political Party Act.  The provision on the quota system in the Political Party Act itself cannot work enough for the substantive increase of women members of the National Assembly.  To improve the limitations of the Act, there are several measures, such as a cross ordering system that allocate women candidates within the electable range.  Sanctions can be taken against the political parties which do not implement 30% quota system for women candidates, especially through the reduction of financial aid for political parties.  Besides, it should be considered to expand from 30% quota to 50% and to increase the proportional representation instead to decrease electoral district.

Women parliamentarians in proportional representation have to contribute to party by productive activities for gender equality and training women elites in party, pursuing winning the election in electoral district in the long run.  Also they should expand the ways for other women to enter the political sphere through various activities to improve electoral institution and the existing political culture occupied by man.  To change political culture from power competition among political moguls to competition of policies, women politicians must concentrate on displaying high transparency in their political activities and on developing policies for anti-corruption.

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The Activities of Women Members of

the Korean National Assembly in 1999

As of 13 March 2000, Korea has 11 women members in the National Assembly (NA), which account for 3.7 % of the total members. Despite their small number, women members exhibited their expertise in their respective standing committees as well as other general activities in NA.  In particular, they took an active role in the 199th Regular Session of the NA, which was held from 29 September to 18 October 1999. They criticized mistakes or misconduct in the government's policies, clearly expressed their viewpoints in women's issues, and suggested specific policy alternatives, based on their thorough research and examination on the government's policies. We hope that more women will be elected in the General Election in the forthcoming April for the realization of true democracy in Korea. The following are summaries of the activities of women members mainly at each standing committee in 1999 (Alphabetical order).

Rep. Hee Kyung Chung (Unification, Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee, National Congress for New Politics (NCNP))

Ms. Chung has actively performed her responsibilities at the Unification, Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee, the Special Committee on Women's Affairs and the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts for one year. She has also carried the parliamentary international activities.  She has proposed about 180 bills and consents to the NA, and in particular she submitted the Bill for Infant Education to provide public education for infants.  On the invitation of the Israeli Parliament (Knesset), Ms. Chung visited to Israel in January 1999, under the responsibility of researching on the parliament and security issues.  She attended the 101st Inter-Parliamentary Conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) as a member of the Executive Committee and the 102nd Inter-Parliamentary Conference as a Korean representative.  She addressed her speech on "Korean Perspectives on Globalization, Financial Crisis and Information Age" at the Conference of Women Parliamentarians held on 10 October 1999.  Ms. Chung participated in the 26th General Conference of the Korea-Japan Parliamentarians' Union, held in Tokyo on 5 -7 November 1999, as a member of the Unification, Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee.  At the inspection of embassies and legations abroad by the Unification, Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee, she presided over inspecting the Korean Embassy to Germany, Italy and France, and the Korean Representative to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Rep. Jin Chool Lim (Culture and Tourism Committee, Grand National Party (GNP))

In the inspection of the Government Information Agency (GIA), Ms. Lim criticized the unequal feature of employment at the GIA that women officers accounted for only 1% out of the total officers in the upper-level positions (higher than the 5th grade) compared to the average percentage, 3% in other administrative bodies of the Government.  Also, she stressed balanced regional development, pointing out the excessive deposit of the Sports Promotion Funds at the banks located in Cholla Province.  Moreover, she urged the Government to establish long-term tourism policies that were not affected by a specific politician or political power.  Through the proposition of the Special Acts on Protection and Effective Maintenance of Ancient Cities, Ms. Lim asked the Government to secure the private property rights of the residents in historical areas and to institute an wide-ranged protective policy of the cultural property including the Government's financial support to unearth the buried cultural property. In the interpellation to the Government, she demanded a consistent environment policy of the Government, especially in constructing the Dong-Gang Dam, and claimed to reconsider the expansion plan of nuclear power plants which were being reduced in other foreign countries. Ms. Lim also required the Government to prepare the systemic and synthetic emergency measures in the case of earthquake.

Rep. Jung-sook Kim (Education Committee, GNP)

Dr. Kim highlighted the unjustness of the Brain Korea 21 (BK 21) Project at the inspection of the Ministry of Education. She insisted that the BK 21 Project should be ceased because of such problems as the illegal management of its Working Committee, the poor investigation of the Overseas Consultant Group about the project, the unfair appointment of members of the Planning and Coordination Committee, etc. During the inspection of the Office of Education in cities and provinces, she urged the Government to consider appropriate countermeasure on the following issues: establishing alternative schools and reeducation programs; training teachers for the handicapped; reducing the workload of teachers; eradicating sexual harassment at schools; dismissing the teachers who committed sexual harassment; revising the plan of absorption and abolition of small-sized schools; and advancing the status of women teachers.  At the inspection of the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS), she demanded transparent and public management of the AKS and other research institutes supported by the Government, criticizing its highhanded personnel administration and lack of research and teaching achievements.  Dr. Kim, who was also Chair of the Special Committee on Women's Affaires, convened the committee six times in 1999, discussed nine bills and acts related to women's affairs, and submitted the bills and acts to the standing committees responsible for them.  Furthermore, by holding a public hearing under the theme of "Improvement in the Acts on Protection of Working Women's Maternity," Dr. Kim and the other women members at the Special Committee on Women's Affairs proposed a revision in the Labor Standard Law, the Equal Employment Act, the Employment Insurance Law, the National Health Insurance Law.  They also proposed a new amendment for the revised Civil Law to abolish its gender-biased clauses, for instance the prohibitive clause on women's remarriage in six months after the divorce.

Rep. Keun Hae Park (Commerce, Industry and Energy Committee, GNP)

At the inspection of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy, Ms. Park pinpointed the side effects of the Big Deal Policy in the semiconductor industry led by the Government which ignored the market economy principles.  She also criticized that the Trade Fair Show in foreign countries which Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) promoted could not meet the needs and requests of the participants in the show.  Ms. Park suggested not only problems in the Government's policies but also proper countermeasures or alternatives.  For example, she maintained the importance of constructing the database system for the spread of e-commerce and protection of e-commerce customers.  She proposed several creative alternatives, such as the use of industrial waste produced by Pohang Iron and Steel Company.  In the interpellation to the Government, she asserted the problems of the Government's foreign policies in dealing with the Robert Kim issue, the North Korean refugee problems and the exchange of war prisoners with North Korea.  She asked if the Government had a plan to change its unprincipled economic policy that hindered companies' investment.  She also asked about countermeasures and preparation of the Government for the New Round of World Trade Organization (WTO).

Rep. Mee-kyung Lee (Environment and Labor Committee, Independent)

Ms. Lee has been conducting her political activities with her expertise in women, human rights, environment and labor.  Through the revision in the Equal employment Act, she tried to prohibit sexual harassment and indirect discrimination against women at work.  She submitted an amendment to include the maternity- or paternity-leave periods of public officers and school teachers in the total length of their continuous service.  At the inspection of the Ministry of Labor, she disclosed that female labor in the unofficial labor market were discriminated in terms of social insurance, payment, retirement allowance, etc.  Moreover, Ms. Lee insisted on dispersion of the Metropolitan Reclaimed Land Management Federation, asking the responsibility of its poor management.  Instead, she maintained the establishment of a steering committee that included participation of citizens in the main 3 cities and provinces of the Metropolitan Area, and a public corporation, namely the Metropolitan Reclaimed Land Management Corporation, by proposing the Bills on the Establishment and Administration of the Metropolitan Reclaimed Land Management Corporation.  She urged the Ministry of Environment to prepare regulations and protective measures to reduce destruction of silt at the estuaries resulting from the large-scale reclamation projects, and disruption of the surroundings in the areas of constructing sea dikes.

Rep. Nack-kyun Shin (Education Committee, NCNP)

At the Education Committee's inspection of State Administration, Ms. Shin raised the issue that universities overcharged the application fees and used them for the expense of their advertisement or public relation (PR) which was irrelevant to admission administration.  She urged the Ministry of Education to prevent a possibility of the food poisoning at schools resulting from poor sanitation in school feeding.  Ms. Shin revealed that 75 % of those teachers who had been sent over to the Disciplinary Committee for sexual harassment were restored to their position.  Considering that 70 % of the victims of sexual harassment at schools was elementary-school students, she requested revision of the "Educational Officer Punishment Ordinances" to appoint women members at the Disciplinary Committee of the Office of Education in each city and province, including the Ministry of Education.  She also demanded the increase of all-day class and admission percentage of kindergartens by establishing more public ones, and the improvement in quality or specialty of kindergarten teachers by providing more teachers with specialized training programs.  In order to completely realize compulsory education in the primary level, she maintained the necessity of subsidiary policies to assist elementary-school students to purchase educational aids.  Ms. Shin requested to enforce compulsory education in the secondary level throughout the whole country as soon as possible.

Rep. Yang Soon Oh (Health and Welfare Committee, GNP)

Ms. Oh revised the National Pension Law and included a special provision of the Lump Sum Refund System for the unemployed in the law.  She has actively participated in legislating laws related to women's issues, such as the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act, the Act on the Punishment of Sexual Crimes, the Gender Discrimination Prevention & Relief Act.  At inspection of State Administration, she raised a question of the compilation of the Government budget favorable to certain governmental offices and civil organizations, prior to the 16th General Election.  She also inquired the Ministry of Health and Welfare on the possible problems due to the absorption of health insurances.  At the inspection of the National Pension Corporation (NPC), Ms. Oh urged NPC to provide a special loan for the unemployed with a low interest rate.  While scrutinizing the National Institute of Health (NIH), she criticized that NIH did not follow the Compulsory Hiring Rule for the Handicapped and furnish the convenient facilities for them.  Especially, at the inspection of the Presidential Committee on Women's Affairs (PCWA), she interpellated intensively the PCWA's inactive reaction to the massive dismissal of female telephone operators at the National Tax Administration.  She also requested PCWA to conduct more fruitful and effective projects, pointing out its lack of standard and efficiency in utilizing the Women's Development Fund.

Rep. Young-Ae Han (Finance and Economy Committee, NCNP)

In order to promote children's human rights in Korea, Ms. Han participated in the Fundraising for the Cardiac Children held by the Moonhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), and urged the public to give attention and support to those children.  By revising the Restricted Tax Exception Act proposed by the Government, she abolished the value-added tax (VAT) imposed on the purchase of medications for rare diseases, such as hemophilia, so more children suffering from this kind of disease could receive medical treatment.  Besides, she has tried to establish a protective institutional machinery for eradication of child abuse including sexual harassment.  As for protection of women's rights, she has maintained that women should not be discriminated in the Government's restructuring.  For instance, she helped all the female telephone operators who were fired due to the introduction of the advanced record system (ARS) to keep their positions.  Moreover, Ms. Han opposed the removal of the Life Improvement Section of the Rural Development Administration that had provided rural women with the guidelines and training for the life improvement in rural areas.

Rep. Young Ja Kwon (National Policy Committee, GNP)

Through the activities at the National Policy Committee, Ms. Kwon criticized the side effects of the National Pension System expanded by the expediency of the Government and the seriousness of monopoly and oligarchy by the Government's Big Deal Policy.  Especially, at the inspection of Governmental Execution, she raised the issues on the dispatch of a combat unit to East Timor for President Kim's Nobel Peace Prize and on the secret fund of Prime Minister Jong-phil Kim.  While inspecting the Financial Supervisory Commission, she criticized that it poured the public fund mobilized by people's tax to the unpromising finance agencies and that it sold domestic banks to foreign companies at a very low price.  Ms. Kwon requested the Ministry of Labor to prepare special measures for unemployment of women labor with high-level education.  She also urged the Office for Government Policy Coordination to introduce a temporary quota system for correcting the discrimination in promotion against women and to abolish the military service merit system.  As for international activities, Ms. Kwon maintained the necessity of policies for poor single-mother households and the socio-economic importance of women's unemployment at the 101st Inter-Parliamentary Conference of IPU.

Rep. Young-seon Kim (National Policy Committee, GNP)

During the inspection of state administration by the National Policy Committee, Ms. Kim was selected as an '99 excellent member of the National Assembly by the Political Watch.  In the statement of account of the year 1999 and the budget investigation for the year 2000, she approached problems with exact facts, insisting on effective budget enforcement.  She established a regulation related to protection of the youth, and laid the amendment bill on the youth protection, which protects the youth from sex and sex violence.  At the Special Committee on Budget and Account, she stated the effective enforcement of the year 2000 budget after thorough appraisal of the budget.  At the Special Committee on Economic System Reform and Unemployment, she discussed measures for overcoming unemployment and guaranteing the basic stability of people's daily life.  In addition, she has been active in legislating laws and acts related to the advancement of women, such as the Women Enterprise Assistance Act.

Political Leadership Training for Young Women (II)

KIWP held the Second Political Leadership Training for Young Women at the Korean Women's Development Institute (KWDI) on November 18-20 under the theme of “Political Party and Election.”  This program was composed of several lectures:  “What is the Political Party?” and “Political Party and Election” (by Dr. Lee, Hyunchul, Grand National Party, Director of Public Relation); “Party and Women: Cast Studies of Foreign Countries” (by Dr. Kim, Eunkyung, Vice-Director of KIWP); and “Korean Parties and Women” (by Prof. Lee, Young-A/ Dan Kook Univ.).  There were also some discussions with women politicians (Dr. Kim, Jung-sook, Ms. Oh, Yang Soon/ Member of the National Assembly, Grand National Party) and small group discussions. With about 30 students from universities or graduate schools, it was the program that could understand the present politics and foster the future women politician.

Political Party and Election

Dr. Lee, Hyunchul (Lecturer, Konkuk Univ.)

The party is the center of the political process which intermediates citizens and their country.  It is also the special group with a purpose to keep and achieve the control of government based on people's support.  Therefore, the purpose of the activities of political party is to achieve the power of control.  To do this, they try to get a lot of support and votes from people.  The main job of political party is that they speaks for people's benefit, reconcile the conflicts in a society, and promote political involvement.  The organization of political party should go with democratic way.  However, Korean political parties have many problems, which are boss-centered political party, antidemocratic operation, regionalism, networking between patrons and beneficiaries, and the structure of high-cost and inefficiency.  In order to solve the problems, each party needs to democratize its own structure, gain support from the public, and to develop various policies.  The election is the basic action for people to participate in political process.  People's opinions, demands and concerns are actually demonstrated by voting, and the representatives elected by people, discussion between representatives and people and a majority vote rule can make social unification.  Most elections proceed mainly by parties.  The candidates of election join a political party frist, and are evaluated by the party's recommendation process.  A political party also elects or nominates not only qualified party leaders but also qualified candidates of congressman and heads of local governments to get a support from eligible voters.  The eligible voters would evaluate the candidates nominated by each political party, and then check and evaluate the public commitments prepared by party.  Finally the voters would mediate their political demand and interests according to the benefits of the public commitments.

Political Party and Women

Dr. Kim, Eunkyung (Vice-director, KIWP)

In women's political participation, Sweden is the best country in the world.  There are 42% women in the congress and 50% women in the cabinet ministry.  This results from the efforts of women's organizations, the change in cognition of political leaders on women, and legal systems such as proportional representation and quota system.  Women's political participation in such countries as Germany, France and England has been expanded through the quota system in party nomination and full support from parties.  In the case of the United States, the political fund for woman candidates, for instance the Emily' List, helped to expand women's political participation.  However, the policies for the increase of Korean women's participation are much to be desired.  In spite of the constant effort from women's organizations, there are still numerous problems such as anti-democratic decision-making process within the party and authoritative views of male politicians on women's political participation.  Therefore, it is essential to take some institutional measures, for example the quota system.

Korean Political Parties and Women's Participation

Dr. Lee, Young-A (Professor, Dan Kook Univ.)

The study on women and politics, though every scholar has different ideas about its background and logical basis, is quite a similar in conclusion.  Probably, there are  several reasons for this, but the main reason is that there is no realistic foundation for the theoretical development on women's political participation under the big gap between theories and practices.  Without the theoretical development in reality, there is no dialectical progress in the theory.  Then, why does not the Korean women's political participation progress?  The crippled traditional practice would be the primary reason.  The political structure with high cost, the parties controled by a few bosses, authoritative decision-making in the parties, antipathy among regions resulting from regionalism, and patriarchal system are blocking the expansion of women's political participation.  The most important task is to build fair election and transparent policies, and to give the quota system for women candidates.

Visiting Political Parties

The participants who visited the Grand National Party (GNP) and the National Congress for New Politics (NCNP) had a lecture and discussion on each party's organization, operation and activities of their committee on women's affairs.

National Congress for New Politics (NCNP)

Kim, Hee-sun (Chair, Committee on Women's Affairs)

The organization of NCNP consists of a president, the National Convention, the Central Executive Council, the Committees, the Secretariat, and the General Conference of National Assembly members.  The Central Executive of Council, the most important legislative organization which mandates the National Convention, has 154 members and 11 women members that is 7.2 % out of the total.  The Committee on Women's Affairs develops women's policies and is responsible for connection with women's organizations.  Developing district offices is unprepared yet, but they act as a basic organization of the head quarter, taking responsibilities of fostering the consciousness of their district residents on democracy.  NCNP employs the same directions of women's policies with the Presidential Commission on Women's Affairs (PCWA).  The outcome of such enactments as the Equal Employment Act, the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Victim Protection Act, the Gender Discrimination Prevention Act, and Women Enterprise Assistance Act are the result of the NCNP's constant efforts to try to improve legal discrimination for women, which is also President Kim's belief on women.  However, under the reality of women's inactive participation in politics, the party's roles and activities are much more needed.  If many congresswomen participate in administration, it will be easier to pass the laws for woman's rights and to allocate more budget for women.  Hence, to extend women's power is the most important task now.  Through this kind of educational program, the Political Leadership Training for Young Women, we hope that the interest in parties and political participation will be increased,

Grand National Party (GNP)

The organization of GNP consists of the National Convention, the Central Committee, the Central Operation Committee, a President, the Secretariat, the Central Executive Council,  and the Policy Committee.  The GNP basically pursues extending women's participation in the all areas, including economy, politics, and society, and appling women's capability to achieve the gender-equal society.  The New Millenium Committee sets up the following support for women - support for women's competitive power and status in the coming information society, support for women's economic empowerment, protection of women's rights and welfare, and support for peace movement of women.  The Women's Affairs Committee tries to extend women's support for the party, the women's political participation, and the improvement of women's right.  The Committee on Women's Policies aims to develop the drafts of proposed laws and amendment bills on women, and to establish collaboration with civil organizations.  The Women's Affairs Bureau supports the activities of congresswomen, the party's executives, and the wives of public officials.  Moreover, it operates the political education through the “Political Academy for Women.”  The GNP is aiming for a transparent politics in the 21st century, construction of more fair economy and development of science and technology.  With this aim, the GNP founded the New Millenium Committee so as to overcome the corrupted reality of politics during the past 50 years and to obtain support from people.  The GNP will transform from the boss-centered party and closed decision-making process into a more democratic, policy-centered party through its own revolution.

Dialogues with Women Members of the National Assembly

Dr. Kim, Jung-sook (GNP)

The activities of parties in advanced nations are very liberal, open and democratic, compared to Korean ones.  In the coming 21st century, the Korean parties will have to be as professionalized and democratic as advanced nations even though their activities have been distrusted by people so far.  It is women that should take the leading role in changing these political parties for the next century.  There are only a few women in the high-level decision-making positions of the parties even if women account for more than 50% out of the members of parties and 70% out of the members of the district offices.  The women's political participation is in demand in the whole world, and actually it is in the process.  Now it is time for young women to have courage and challenge to participate in politics.  It must be the first step to participate in small parts of politics first, and then extend to a larger, higher sphere of politics.

Ms. Oh, Yang Soon (GNP)

The agricultural society and the industrial society used to require men's participation, but now the information society is requiring women's.  In the past, the person with ambition and desire for power usually liked to participate in politics while it is more desirable for specialists to participate in politics right now.  When women's political participation was negatively viewed in the past, they usually advanced into politics after having much experience at a NGO.  However, now we need women who have experienced working and promoting within a party.  With unique characteristics which only women can display, I hope many women politicians will obtain leadership needed in the information age of the 21st century.

Small Group Discussion

After the two days of training, participants were divided into three groups and then  discussed on the theme of "Party, Political Revolution, and the Role of Woman".  They presented the following action plans based on the problems of Korean parties and  the possible solutions.

Action Plans

-Be interested in politics through newspapers and Internet.

-Participate in political educational program voluntarily.

-Participate in election and campaign.

-Be concerned about political participation through fundraising and monitoring.

-Contribute to the enhancement of political consciousness and civil power through volunteer activities and supporting activities for NGOs.

-Increase women's capability and establish women's own network.

Joint Project of Women's Political Network (WPN)

Training of Trainers(TOT) for Political Education

「Training of Trainers for Political Education」 sponsored by Women's Political Network (WPN) and hosted by KIWP was held on October 29-31 at the Namhan River Training Institute in Yangpyung, Kyungkido.  With the present stream which emphasizes political education, this Training of Trainers(TOT) program was designed to change the existing lecture-centered method of political education into more efficient political education.  Experts on political education, officials from women's organizations, and women who wish to contribute to women's political education participated in this program.  The TOT program consisted of lectures and practices on varied educational methods such as Brainwriting, Idea Writing, Card Posting, Traffic Signal Debate, Choice Game, Text summary, and Scenario Method.

What is Metaplan?

Metaplan is the educational seminar to employ various educational methods which can apply to the process of political education for adults.  It is a participant-centered teaching method, using visual aids such as OHP, paper cards, and stickers.

The features of Metaplan

-participant-centered

-focusing on visualization

-focusing on small group learning

-dividing the size of the seminar and learning time properly to maximize the effect of education

-considering the circumstances of training

-necessary to have a moderator who is lecturing and proceeding with discussion, presentation, games, etc.

Brainwriting

This method makes possible that the moderator collects the cards on which opinions of participants about a given problem written and posts them on the board so that the participants can see the opinions.  Cards are used for collecting opinions.  The opinions can be solutions for the problem and sub-theme for next group discussion.

Traffic Signal Debate

Traffic Signal Debate is the method that can develop a debate using traffic signal cards. Red, Green, and yellow cards are given to all participants.  To the questions the participants themselves brought, they show green cards as expression of agreement, and red cards as objection.  When they are not sure, show yellow cards.

XY Card Game

This game aims for acquiring scores as high as possible among groups.  Under the limited resource, you let participants experience psychological conflicts and reality among groups who are in the condition of competition.

Choice Game

Using four corners of a classroom, participants are supposed to move to a corner they  select, and then explain the standards of their own choice to the moderator and all the other participants.  The participants can develop their ability of presentation and speech through this method.  Also they are able to practice the process of selection which is a way of democratic politics.

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Women's Political Empowerment & Regional Network

KIWP host a thematic workshop at the 1999 Seoul International Conference of NGOs on October 13 1999.  On the theme of Women's Political Empowerment & Regional Network, experts on Women in Politics (WIP) in academia, NGOs and political circles from seven countries shared their experiences and discussed future directions for women's political empowerment and regional network.  Before the workshop, Chair of KIWP, Dr. Jung-sook Kim (Chair, Special Committee on Women's Affairs, National Assembly) gave a welcoming speech to the all participants and the audience, and Hon. Yun-Sook Lee (Co-Chair, WATCHING EYES for Clean Politics) progressed the workshop as a moderator.

1. PRESENTATION:

․Dr. Linda Miranda (Executive Director, Center for Asia-Pacific Women in Politics, The Philippines)

Dr. Miranda begins the presentation with a brief general discussion of politics and political empowerment.  Her talk is roughly divided into three parts:  the obstacles to women's empowerment, opportunities for advancing women's political empowerment and the future direction for advancing women's political empowerment.  Persistence of traditional gender roles and institutional barriers in the public domain are two areas Dr. Miranda stresses as the major obstacles to women's empowerment.  However, she finds there are some opportunities for women in politics.  For instance, one opportunity is access to, and quicker dissemination of, information due to the Information Age, namely the progress in telecommunication.  For future direction, Dr. Miranda states that women must be encouraged to participate in the political process and the encouragement has to come, in part, by actors in the public sphere, such as from governments.  This means that there should be an enabling environment for women's political empowerment.  Also, she considers political organizing to be an important strategy for women to gain power in the future.  In terms of recommendations, Dr. Miranda suggests the need for women, themselves, to target and push their political agenda.  In her view, the network of women's groups working for women's political empowerment is important as well.

To this regard, Dr. Miranda mentions briefly the importance of the Center for Asia-Pacific Women in Politics (CAPWIP).  The organization's emphasis is on a "transformative agenda," which encourage women to change politics.  CAPWIP, in conjunction with organizations like UNDP and UNIFEM, has been working on many programs.  These programs focus on basic needs and provide critical resources necessary for women's political empowerment.  Dr. Miranda finds that it is important to document "best practices" of women's organizations and share these through the network of the focal points of CAPWIP, such as through the use of the Internet.

2. DISCUSSION

․Ms. Veena Nayyar (President, Women's Political Watch, India)

Ms. Nayyar begins by discussing briefly the work of India's Women's Political Watch, which has made gains at the local government level, but working to expand advocacy and progress at the state or national level.  She states that political consciousness of women have already been raised.  Acceptance of women's political empowerment is present in principle, but she finds a "violation in practice."  In her view, obstacles remain among or within women, and she raises the question of whether there is anything wrong in the way women have gone about bringing political change (in the past). In terms of (advocacy) measures needed, Ms. Nayyar finds a need for mobilization of a mass constituency and stresses that women need to come out and show their support.  Also, she places emphasis on effective performance of women political leaders.

․Ms. Sara Longwe (Chair, The African Women's Development and          Communication Network, Zambia)

Ms. Longwe points out that the first statement in the Platform for Action is that "empowerment is key, " which should be a guiding principle.  She finds the a great obstacle to women's political empowerment is related to "blaming the victimizer“ as women often accept the (traditional) patriarchal explanations of why women are oppressed or kept down.  She says women need to find their own explanation, that is, alternative explanations.  In her view, there are NGOs which support government, but she finds that NGOs' role is often to point out how governments have gone astray from their obligations or goals.  She shares some of her suggestions or what she calls "points of leverage."  She states that women must choose clear gender issues, those that others can agree with.  Also, Ms. Longwe mentions that people must watch governmental action to make sure that they are following through with the promises put down in writing, and if they see a contradiction between word and action, they need to point them out.  Finally, she suggests that networking should be beyond the regional barriers, in order to find out what others are doing in different regions.

․Ms. Pethu Serote (President, Gender Education & Training Network,       South Africa)

Ms. Serote speaks about South Africa's experience.  Before 1991, she claims that "gender equality" was not talked about, at least not comfortably.  By 1994, the gender question was pushed out of the political agenda, which created a need for women to "run fast" and make it an important issue in politics.  Women organized at all levels - many coalitions were formed - in order to constitute a force within politics.  The African National Congress (ANC), the main opposition party at that time, gave rights for women to hold 20 per cent of seats in parliament, which is at present, 29 per cent.  However, Ms. Serote points out that numbers are not enough, in the sense that women need the strategies to participate fully as parliamentary members.  In South Africa, she finds that the support structures were lacking for the women politicians, who suffered from "wipe out" as a result.  For instance, they carried other responsibilities outside the duties in parliament, so they could not function well or fully.  In her view, challenges for the future revolve around the question of how to support the women in parliament to help them function fully.  She also mentions how to deal with the situation of the collapse of the women's movement.

․Ms. Shanti Dairiam (Director, International Women‘s Rights Action        Watch-ASIA PACIFIC, Malaysia)

Ms. Dairiam's focus centers around article 7 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which concerns the obligation of government.  She claims that government should ensure women can stand for elections and that they can vote.  She raises the question of what should the government do to facilitate and fulfill their obligation.  She mentions a study of India and Pakistan in which the element of women as voters, candidates and government representatives/politicians are each looked in turn to see what restrictions they face.  One major obstacle found is related to the ideology of gender.  For instance, due to gender, women find it difficult to gain access to information about politics and elections directly and they must rely on indirect sources like political parties.

․Dr. Young-Ok Baek (Professor, Myoung Ji University, Korea)

Dr. Baek raises three primary questions:  What did we (in Korea) do to promote women's political empowerment, what do we want to achieve through international network and how can we achieve our goals?  In her view, affirmative action helped as well as the introduction of a quota system in government helped women.  In order to achieve political empowerment, Dr. Baek believes that the political skills of women in politics need to be developed, political system or structure also need to be developed for women and women need to exercise their full political rights and vote for women candidates.  To achieve the goals toward political empowerment, she finds education of women is necessary, such as by means of networks.  Also, sharing information in order to reach "critical mass" (30 per cent) as well as finding an environment that fosters a "revolution" of women, through the use of media, are both mentioned by Dr. Baek as important in order to achieve the goals of women in Korea.

․Dr. Ranjana Kumari (Director, Social Research Center, India)

Dr. Kumari begins by pointing out that politics is about power of people, and so, she finds that bringing together a large mass of the populace through networking with other NGOs is important.  She also points out that the advances in communication technology and effect of globalization are both processes that people can use to their advantage.  Dr. Kumari stresses the importance of using the "politics of the people."

․Ms. Rosemary Crowley (Senator, Federal Parliament, Australia)

Ms. Crowley finds based on her experience as a politician in Australia that it is not just about numbers.  That is, it is not enough to secure greater number of government seats occupied by women, since they sometimes get into politics only to cut the programs geared to help women.  She suggests that female candidates must possess a commitment to change, to create better opportunities for women.

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Future Activities 2000

◎ Training & Education

- Political Leadership Training for Young Women

- Training of Women Voters

- Training of Trainers (TOT)

◎ Women's Forum on Politics (bi-monthly)

◎ Model United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (MUNCSW)

◎ Academic Seminar

- KIWP's 11th Anniversary Seminar on “16th General Election and Women”

◎ Research & Study

- Joint Study on Best Practices of Women in Politics (WIP) in East Asia with the

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Center for Asia-Pacific        Women in Politics (CAPWIP)

◎ Opening of the East Asia Women in Politics (EAWIP) Website

◎ Joint Activities through the Women's Political Network

◎ Publications

- Newsletter, Women & Politics (Quarterly)

- Women & Politics (III) (Series)