Anna Kearl and Dr. Bruce Grant, Department of Near Eastern Languages

Confucius wrote “Between Husband and wife: distinction.” This aphorism, also translated as “separation of function” or “obedience,” provides the foundation for social relationships between men and women in the Republic of Korea. With the election of a liberal president ten years ago and the increasing globalization of the Korean economy, a greater emphasis is being placed on the western aphorism that says: “all men are created equal.” The last decade has seen a shift in the roles of women in political, social, and economic spheres as the country moves away from “distinction” and more towards gender equalization.

I applied for an ORCA grant so that I could travel to Korea and research this shift in male/female roles towards greater equality. I was particularly interested in determining the shift from a female perspective; I wanted to know how women felt about the increasingly “equal” society they were supposedly living in. Did they see a difference in how they were treated by their male counterparts? Did they feel that they had achieved a position that equaled their male counterparts? Or did they still feel that there was “distinction” between men and women in the economic sector of Korean society? I hoped to specifically examine these dynamics in the context of a business environment.

Gaining an understanding of the current perceptions toward gender equality and the role of women in the business world of Korea will help me understand the changes that still need to be made to smooth the transition for businesses seeking to westernize and modernize their business practices. From a personal perspective, it will allow me to gain an understanding of what attitudes a woman entering the workforce in Korea today might expect to face.

When I originally began this project, I planned to examine the shifts in cultural attitudes towards women in the workforce at all levels of the economic spectrum. I wanted to interview everyone from top business executives to janitors, in small towns and large cities. Through doing such a comprehensive study, I envisioned gaining a comprehensive understanding of how women in the workforce felt they were perceived by their male counterparts and society in general as compared to their mothers, grandmothers and previous generations.

I began researching my project while still at BYU by searching the web and the BYU library for background information on the women’s movement in Korea, the involvement of women in economic enterprises, perceptions of society towards working women, and the effects of globalization and western influences on these perceptions. Especially helpful were the electronic journals offered through the BYU library. These sources gave me a solid understanding of the history of the Korean’s women movement and women’s involvement in the business world up through the post-Korean War globalization of the country.

I also searched the Korean web, locating valuable information on the more recent economic history of the women’s movement in Korea. Particularly useful were the United Nation’s website, Ewha Women’s University in Seoul, and the Korean Women’s Institute. These all sites provided me with a more contemporary view of the women’s movement, the position of women in the workforce and the situations they face. The culmination of my research project came when I traveled to Korea to individualize the project by conducting interviews with employed Korean women. By doing so, my theoretical research was able to take on a personal and contemporary perspective of what Korean women in the workforce faced as they went to work each day.

My first obstacle was the realization of the sheer magnitude of the project I had begun. It would be almost impossible, on my own and with the time restraints I was working with, to gain a random sampling of working Korean women, even after narrowing my focus to the small town of Pyoungtaek, South Korea. I decided, rather than studying women in various professions throughout the country, to narrow the focus of the study to women employed at the company I was interning for in Korea, the LG Electronics Corporation factory (hereafter referred to as LGE) located in Pyoungtaek.

I faced further obstacles when it came to conducting the interviews of women within the LGE corporate structure. I found that I would not have an opportunity to interview any female executives because there were none. In the factory I worked in, there were no women in positions higher than assistant manager; the top positions were all held by men. I also found that, despite receiving permission from the president of the factory and despite repeated assurances that my research would remain anonymous (including a statement on the consent form); women were reluctant to be interviewed. When I questioned them about their reluctance to participate, they expressed fear of reprisal from their supervisors because of the nature of my research. I found that while women expressed willingness to participate, when it came to actually being interviewed, they found excuses or simply disappeared. I was not anticipating this and so came away with less interview subjects than I hoped. Despite these obstacles, I found that my research project lead to rich information and surprising conclusions.

When I left for Korea, my preliminary research had led me to hypothesize that the efforts by the government, social organizations and increasingly globally oriented companies were leading to an overall equalization of male/female relationships in the workplace. My experiences while in Korea, however, led me to believe that reports from these institutions were extremely optimistic, at best. My personal experience was that I was ignored or sidelined especially in comparison to my male intern counterparts who were given more work, more interesting projects, and more attention. Even assuming that this was because of my status as an intern, I found that in business and workplace relationships of women and men there was still “difference.” A great deal of change is still needed to allow women to pursue their careers on a level equal to their male counterparts.

The conclusions I reached through my interviews and research were that women in the LG Electronics factory in Pyoungtaek are dissatisfied with their working experiences. They explained in the interviews that while they had many more opportunities than their mothers and grandmothers had, they still felt limited in their abilities to pursue a career. They felt that parents and friends tried to dissuade them from pursuing a career in business. These women also vocalized frustration at being passed over for jobs, promotions, and pay raises in favor of their male counterparts. The married women felt that their decisions to have families and children were discouraged by their bosses to the point that some feared being fired for having a family. All expressed a desire for company policies and government regulations leading to a more family-friendly environment. The suggestions they offered included longer maternity leave, day-care run and supported by the company, and government regulations preventing women from being fired for deciding to become pregnant.

This research project was invaluable to me. I am currently preparing for graduation and seeking job opportunities in Korean-American companies. This project gave me a much more realistic idea of the conditions I would be facing if I chose to work for a Korean business than that offered by my research done in the United States. It also opened my mind to the possibilities for future research. I wonder, now, whether the opinions of the women working in the LGE factory in Pyoungtaek are representative of those around the country. What measures can/are being taken by the government and by these companies to alleviate the stress these women feel in the workplace? Does this “distinction” between men and women found in the workplace in Korea exist in the headquarters and offices of Korean companies located in other countries? If so, what tensions are created when women in Western countries have to deal with being treated as inferior by their male, Korean counterparts?

I plan to use my research to generate an honors thesis for Brigham Young University. At this point, I am not sure whether I will be continuing my research post-graduation but would love to be able to study at Ewha University in South Korea eventually in their Department of Women’s Studies. If I decide to pursue this course of study, I plan to work out some of the questions that arose while finishing this research project.