1980년대 한국 여성 국회의원들의 젠더 정치와 ‘여성주의 리더십’

Abstract

This paper aims to consider strategies and feminist leadership for promoting women's rights through the parliamentary activities of female lawmakers in the 1980s. The 1980s was a time when the women's movement began to develop in earnest along with the progress of democratization in Korean society. During this period, women's politics in congress was carried out in a close relationship with women's movements in the realm of civil society. For the establishment of the Korea Women's Development Institute, female lawmakers also appropriated nationalism and developmentalism in a feminist way. The international community's pressure on gender equality, including World Conferences on Women and the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, has had a positive impact on the Korean women's movement and women's politics. Stressing their commitment to the international community, female lawmakers pushed for revisions to the family law and the enactment of the gender equality law. Despite various difficulties, female lawmakers joined forces and cooperated with each other to enact laws that would contribute to gender equality beyond party factions. In the 1980s, some female lawmakers demonstrated the possibility of a new democracy with feminist leadership of communication and empathy.