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  20 years of women policy by the Center for Korean Women and Politics – reporting session and special lectures by German women politicians
Dr. Son Bong-Scuk, President of CKWP, opens the workshop and
reporting session on the results of women candidates
in the local and regional elections in June 2010

Shaped by the traditional Korean societal order the participation of women in Korean politics only slowly increased. The recent local and regional elections on June 2nd confirmed this trend. With 19,1 percent of all elected candidates women achieved their highest share in representation since introduction of local elections in 1991. Starting with a meager 0,9 percent in 1991, and having reached a share of only 3,19 percent in 2002, the last and the current local elections brought a stronger push for woman representation, as the table below shows.


Women candidates Total number of candidates Women candidates in percent Elected candidates Total elected Elected candidates in percent
1991 186 13004 1.4 48 5161 0.9
1995 252 10168 1.81 128 5756 2.2
1998 185 10168 1.91 97 4450 2.17
2002 394 10870 3.62 142 4439 3.19
2006 1411 12213 11.6 529 3967 13.7
2010 1643 9665 17.0 745 3893 19.1
Table: The success of women candidates in the local and regional elections in South Korea 1991 – 2010
Source: Center for Korean Women and Politics

However, the mayors of larger cities (where no woman candidate won) and the county chiefs and district chiefs of large cities, where only 6 of 228 offices went to women, are still largely dominated by men. By now, there has been a women leader of a majority party GNP and a woman prime minister under President Roh Moo-Hyun, and both are potential candidates for the next presidency.

Since its inception 20 years ago the Center for Korean Women and Politics (CKWP), one of the most important women organizations under the leadership of Dr. Son Bong-Scuk, worked for the increased participation of women in politics. For this they organized training sessions for younger and more experienced women, conferences, workshops and study trips. Hanns-Seidel-Foundation is partner of CKWP since 1994 and until today more than 50 joint programmes with thousands of participants have been organized. The more auspicious was it that the President of the Parliament of the Free State of Bavaria, Barbara Stamm, and the Vice President of Hanns-Seidel-Foundation, Prof. Ursula Männle, Member of the Bavarian Parliament could take part in the reporting session and celebratory conference on the occasion of 20 years of the inception of CKWP. Both in their presentations stressed the importance of continued political work of women, networking among women and institutional improvements for more women in politics. They were deeply impressed by the work of Korean women under the leadership of President Dr. Bong-Scuk Son and general-secretary Eun-Ju Kim. In the reporting session successful as well as unsuccessful women candidates discussed lively with their German peers about their experiences. In particular the system of candidate selection poses big hurdles for women candidates.

Interview KBS with Babara Stamm : http://world.kbs.co.kr/german/program/program_seoulreport.htm



Participants of the Workshop
As part of the anniversary celebration Hanns-Seidel-Foundation
is honored for its support for women in politics by CKWP; from the left:
Dr. Seliger, HSS Korea, Prof. Maennle, Vice President of Hanns-Seidel-Foundation,
Dr. Son Bong-Scuk, President CKWP


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