[Editorial] Long Road Ahead for Women's Liberation

A series of events were held around the country in celebration of International Women's Day (March 8). Each was different in form and character but the diagnosis of the reality face by women today was the same; that women's liberation still has a long way to go in Korean society.

International Women's Day originated in protests by women workers in New York in 1908 who organized to demand the right to vote and organize a union. Calls for political and labor rights are still valid in our society today, and are expressed in the campaign for political power for women and against the feminization of poverty. One more concern is doing away with sexual violence and the commercialization of women's bodies.

Of immediate concern in Korea is the overconcentration of the ills associated with socioeconomic disparity on women. A declaration issued this past week at a women's conference noted that "70 percent of female workers are 'irregular workers' struggling with low pay and insecure jobs." It noted that an "absolute majority of poor are women, a painful and gloomy reality that can be called the 'feminization of poverty.'"

That is not all. The recent episodes of sexual violence and the rampant sale of human ova show you that women's bodies continue to face violence and exploitation. The classic forms of violence are being outdone by exploiting their reproductive abilities using the latest high-tech know-how.

The way to achieve a breakthrough will be found through political organization. Regional elections are just around the corner, and so immediately there needs to be conditions and support for active participation by women. There also needs to be political organization in a larger sense of the term, with women expressing and resolving their own issues well beyond the confines of parliamentary politics. It is no less important that men share the feminist realization that women's liberation is not just for women, that it is also about liberating men from being "oppressors."

The Hankyoreh, 9 March 2006.

[Translations by Seoul Selection]