I'm a feminist

Courtesy of Tima Miroshnichenko

By David A. Tizzard

I grew up in the U.K. with Elizabeth II as queen and Margaret Thatcher as prime minister. My family was also matriarchal as our grandmother presided over a large collection of cousins, aunties, and relatives. Therefore, throughout my years of development, it was second nature for me to see women in positions of power and influence. In that sense, I was very lucky. I didn't have to rationalize anything nor did it take any moment of moral enlightenment. I wasn't born benevolent or possessing any natural abilities; instead, my environment and the social climate shaped my understanding of people, power and gender.

Since then, I've spent 15 years working at Seoul Women's University. There I've listened, learned, taught and communicated with thousands of young Korean adults. I've helped countless Korean women, in what little way I can, enter graduate school, move abroad, get jobs, obtain internships, and generally succeed at life. Pushing them up and beyond their current status as much as possible. Having grown up seeing women as leaders and holding the highest positions of the land, I take the same approach here.

It would be incorrect to say the many Korean women I interact with all possess the same attitudes or political leanings, however. They are as diverse as you would expect. Over the past few days, some have celebrated the victory of Yoon Seok-yeol, some have reiterated their support for Sim Sang-jeung and her championing of society's oppressed, and others have expressed fear about their safety and rights in Korea, fearing democratic backsliding and the loss of social support. They all have reasons for their positions, like I do for mine, and thus I try to treat them all equally and with respect.

I won't pretend to speak for Korean women nor fully understand how they feel. Nevertheless, because some do now feel threatened, I just wanted to try and show some solidarity and support. Allyship in an English-language op-ed will not bring about fundamental change here in Korea, of course. I don't think there are simple solutions either because culture and attitudes do not change easily. Researching and lecturing in Korean culture, society, and gender, however, I've observed that people do benefit from communication, discussion and being as informed as possible. Moreover, the young adults in this country are intelligent, open-minded, and capable of great things.

When trying to cover any issue, and because of the importance of communication, it is vital to get a handle on the words we are using. Liberal feminism advocates the legal and social equality of men and women and the removal of any barriers that prevent this. Standpoint feminism suggests that men and women have inherently different views of the world based on their social position and thus more should be done to incorporate women's perspectives. Post-structural feminism takes gender and identity as socially constructed and seeks to address language and symbols which reinforce difference and discrimination. Postcolonial feminism is more concerned with differences among women, believing that the experiences of women in the West (for example) are not analogous to those elsewhere. Marxist feminism points to the exploitation of women through capitalist structures, private property, and pink taxes. Radical feminism calls for the reordering of society and abolishment of the patriarchy. There are countless more, including various subdivisions of those briefly listed above. None of these is mutually exclusive. They are all different approaches to the same question.

But what question? Again, that's another issue for the people of the country to address. The conversation requires some direction or guiding principle. There will be a new president and a new administration. Will they be capable of creating a platform for this discussion among the citizens? The last government came to power amidst a wave of hope for revolution and change and claims of a feminist presidency. People can decide for themselves whether progress was made on those issues.

Looking forward, President-elect Yoon has already spoken out on the need to protect the human rights of North Korean citizens. This was a thinly-veiled criticism of President Moon's approach to relations with Pyongyang. If human rights are going to be a feature of the next administration's foreign policy, however, wouldn't it be nice if they were also a feature of domestic governance aimed at protecting all the citizens of this country? Making women feel safe and also offering legal protection against discrimination to people irrespective of religion, gender, ethnicity, or sexual orientation is a way of championing human rights.

Whether this happens or not, remains to be seen. Until then, I'll keep listening, learning and supporting the people around me.

Dr. David A. Tizzard (datizzard@swu.ac.kr) has a Ph.D. in Korean Studies and lectures at Seoul Women's University and Hanyang University. He is a social/cultural commentator and musician who has lived in Korea for nearly two decades. He is also the host of the Korea Deconstructed podcast, which can be found online. The views expressed in the article are the author's own and do not reflect the editorial direction of The Korea Times.