Women in Postwar Korea

I. A quick history of postwar Korea

A. Korea and the Cold War

the Korean War, 1950-1953

Americans, Russians and Koreans in 1945-1946

the 38^th parallel

Kim Il Sung, N. Korea, and the U.S.S.R.?

S. Korea and the U.S.A.

military bases and the second Korean War

the DMZ and World War III

B. From dictators to presidents

1948-1960: Syngman Rhee: puppet ruler?

1960-1961: Second Republic of Korea

1961-1978: Park Chun Hee - coup

1979-1987: Chun Doo Hwan - coup

1988-1993: Rho Tae Woo - elected

1993-1998: Kim Young Sam - elected

1998-2003: Kim Dae Jung - elected

C. The economic miracle

the sixties: war, corruption, and cheap labor

1964: normalization of relations with Japan

the seventies: slow economic improvement

May 18, 1980: the Kwangju massacre

the eighties: rapid economic recovery, slow political liberalization

American and Japanese styles of management

labor and national interest

the 1988 Olympics

the nineties: continued economic growth until 1998

D. Cultural impact

urbanization and cultural heritage

surface westernization

Korean Christianity

the urbanization of the supernatural

factory jobs and village girls

the Korean baby market

a dowry of one's own

II. Women in S. Korea

A. Women's issues and nationalism

the "Comfort Women" issue

Korea's national myth and prehistory

race, nationalism, and mothers for the new Korea

economic development and women's rights

B. Women as citizens

candidates and voters

protest and labor movements

Confucianism and student protests

C. Social issues

women and education

women and marriage

a single adult: an oxymoron

arranged, self-arranged, and love marriages

working mothers

working daughters-in-law

domestic violence and divorce

mail-order brides: "traffic in women?"

sex and the workplace

female professions

women in the arts

D. Korean women in America

non-refugee Asians

Christianity and church organizations

male and female immigrant patterns

women's work and assimilation

traditional crafts as an inroad

ego and language

seclusion and language

education, housework, and first generation Korean women

the next generation

family ties and individualism

the language gap?

Korean-American feminists

explaining things to the family back home