The Impeachment of Park Geun-Hye and Symbolic Representation of Women in Korea

• In Event: Gender and Political Representation in Asia

Abstract

Studies have demonstrated a positive linkage between women's descriptive representation and symbolic representation, or the belief in women's ability to govern (Alexander 2012). Female legislators serve as role models for women and empower women to participate in politics (Wolbrecht and Campbell 2007; but Liu 2018). Then, how does a disgraceful political exit of female leaders mean for other female politicians in the country? This project answers this question focusing on Park Geun-Hye’s impeachment in South Korea.

Park Geun-Hye has multiple firsts in her title. She was the first daughter of late Park Chung-Hee, an authoritarian president who ruled the country for 18 years. When her mother passed away through an assassination, she stepped up as the acting first lady until her father was also assassinated five years after. She became the first female presidential candidate from a major political party, and won the presidential election in 2012 and became the first female president of South Korea. Then in 2016, she became the first president who could not finish the term due to impeachment, with her impeachment upheld by the Constitutional Court in 2017. She was later sentenced to 24 years in prison on bribery and associated charges.

After impeachment, some political leaders commented that Park's fall is ominous to other women politicians' success. Legislator Park Ji-won commented that women should not even dream about electing another woman president in the next 100 years, considering the failure of Park as the president. Journalist Yoonduk Kim argued that the glass ceiling is more dangerous after it is shattered – the glass parts attack the women who emerged from it when they slip. Park’s election as president initially was seen as a breakthrough for gender equality in Korea. Park’s political demise and the gender-based critiques during her fall, however, risk raising the bar higher for future female politicians. If arguably South Korea’s most respected female politician falls from grace in such a bizarre fashion, what opportunities exist for ambitious female candidates?

We tackle the impact of Park’s impeachment on perceptions of candidates with an original web survey conducted by Macromil Embrain. An experimental question seeks to identify whether after Park’s impeachment Koreans examined candidates in general more carefully or female candidates in particular. Additional questions ask about perceptions of and expected qualifications of female candidates more broadly. Through this, we intend to produce a more thorough analysis of the potential effects of Park’s impeachment on female candidates more broadly.

Authors

• Young-Im Lee, California State University-Sacramento

• Timothy S. Rich, Western Kentucky University

• Andi Dahmer