여성 유권자의 정치 성향과 투표 행태 추이에 대한 고찰: 2012년 대통령 선거를 중심으로

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the voting behavior and political orientation of female voters represented in the 2012 Korean presidential election. In addition, it draws some political implications for political participations and empowerment of women, Simultaneously, this study will expand the horizon of korean electoral studies by analyzing systematically political attitudes and behavior of male and female voters. The things that are founded throughout this empirical analysis are as follows: First, vote turnout of female, for the first time. is higher than of male since the 2002 presidential election. Second, the strong support of female voter for Park Geun Hye was the dominant factor for her victory. Especially, the overwhelming support of 40-years-old women for Park became the big power. Thirdly, the percentage of active voters who not only are concerned with election but also participate in voting is higher for men than for women. For women, 82.7% was marked in the 1997 presidential election. That was the highest level. Since then, the percentage had been declined. There were 72.5% and 65.7% respectively in the 2002 presidential election and the 2007 presidential election. However, the figure was rapidly increased in the 2012 presidential election. Fourthly, the trend in the liberalization of women in terms of ideology which had been maintained since the 2007 presidential election was suddenly collapsed in the 2102 presidential election. Fifthly, there was no statistically significant consistent pattern in political efficacy between the male and the female voter. However, the level of men’s political efficacy was more stronger than that of women in the 2012 presidential election. The most important implication for this study is that the consciousness revolution of female voters are crucial than the role of government. Women should have consistent ideological orientation and also have high concern with politics and election. In addition, they should have strong political efficacy with the conviction that the world will be changed if they actively participated in the election. This gender consciousness revolution will be a short cut for increasing the representation of women and for constructing practical gender equality.