Fighting for the Seats: Gender Quota and State Feminism in South Korea and Taiwan Chang-Ling Huang Department of Political Science National Taiwan University Gender Quota
• Major Institutional Design to Increase Women’s Representation, Electoral as well as Non-Electoral • Electoral Representation: Widely Adopted, over 90 Countries (Constitution, Election Laws, Party Rules) • Non-Electoral Representation: Less Discussed, but no Less Important (Norway) State Feminism
• When Feminists Enter the State, Femocrats • International Trend/Post-Cold War Politics • The 4th World Conference on Women ( Beijing 1995) • Gender Mainstreaming/Policy Tools • Target 30% Argument
• gender quota literatures focus on electoral representation, but non-electoral representation is also, if not more, important. • In comparison to South Korea, Taiwan performs better in electoral representation, but worse in non-electoral representation. • The reason: different institutional environment for the development of State Feminism Gender Quota and Electoral Representation • Global Trend • Electoral system matters: PR most compatible, Single-member district, least compatible • South Korea and Taiwan: mixed system, single-member district plus party list Global Trend: Women in National Parliaments
60
50
40
% 30
20
10
0 12345678910 Rank
2002 2007 Rank Country Women % Country Women % 1 Sweden 45.3 Rwanda 48.8 2 Denmark 38 Sweden 47.3 3 Finland 37.5 Finland 42 4 Norway 36.4 Costa Rica 38.6 5 Costa Rica 35.1 Norway 37.9 6 Iceland 34.9 Denmark 36.9 7 Netherland 34 Netherland 36.7 8 Argentina 30.7 Cuba/Spain 36
9 Mozambique 30 Argentina 35 10 South Africa 29.8 Mozambique 34.8 Femal e MPs i n Sout h Kor ea and Tai wan
35
30
25
20 % 15
10
5
0
48 54 60 67 71 73 78 81 85 88 92 96 00 04 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 20 20
Year
Korea Taiwan Female Members in Local Assemblies
9%
8%
7%
6%
5%
4%
3%
2%
1%
0%
0 3 6 9 2 5 8 1 4 7 0 3 6 9 2 5 8 1 4 7 5 5 5 6 7 8 8 8 9 9 0 0 0 95 9 96 96 97 97 9 98 9 99 0 19 1 1 19 1 19 1 1 19 1 1 19 1 1 19 1 19 20 2 20
Taiwan S.Korea Female County Magistrates
16%
14%
12%
10%
8%
6%
4%
2%
0%
85 87 89 91 93 95 97 99 01 03 05 07 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 20 20 20 20 Year
Taiwan S.Korea Femal City Council Members : Seoul and Taipei
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
9 3 9 5 1 5 1 6 71 75 77 81 83 8 87 89 9 93 97 99 0 03 05 97 97 99 19 19 1 19 19 1 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 1 19 19 20 20 20 Year
Taipei Seoul Taiwan has more female representatives because……… • Pre-existed institutions. Reserved Seats for Women since the 1947 constitution. The quota remains 10% for years and became ceilings. • Major momentum appeared in the mid- 1990s. Demanded by feminist organizations. Target 25% • Party adoption. Quota is gender neutral. Less resistance from male politicians. Quota Type South Korea Taiwan National 50% 50% Legislature (9.35% of total seats) (15% of total seats) (Party List) National 30% Nomination 0 Legislature encouraged. No Penalty. Financial (District) Incenctives) Local Assembly 50% SNTV: (Party List) For every four elected, one must be a woman. Local Assembly 30% Nomination (15%-25%) encouraged. No Penalty. Financial (District) Incenctives) Female Parliamentary Members (Political Family)
70
62.5 60
51.5 50
41.1 40 % 30 30
20
10.3 10 3.4
0 Total District Party List
Korea Taiwan Democracy and Non-electoral Representation • The Changing State-Society Relations in South Korea and Taiwan • Mutually embedded and mutually constituting • Proliferation of Government Committees and Public Commissions • The institutional barriers of elections Women in Government Committees
40
35
30
25
% 20
15
10
5
0 Total Central Government Local Government
South Korea Taiwan State Feminism in South Korea and Taiwan • South Korea: 2001 Ministry of Gender Equality • Taiwan: 1997 Cabinet level Commission on the Promotion of Women’s Rights • Femocrats Led vs. Commissions Led Gender Quota in Education
Taiwan Commission on Gender Equality Education, Ministry of Eduation Gender Equality Education Law 30% Gender Quota in Teachers Review Committee (gender neutral, all levels) Gender Quota in Education
South Korea A Femocrat in Ministry of Education 200 out of 1000 new faculty positions Controversies and criticism Tentative Conclusion
• Gender and democracy • The goal of quota: implementing the quota to make quota eventually meaningless • more attention should be paid to non- electoral representation, whether from the research agenda of democratization or state feminism