Gender inequality in the workforce: reviewing gender differentiation in Korean tradition as a power

노동에서의 성불평등: 전통 속의 성차별을 권력으로 재고찰하기

Gender equality has been expected to realize fully in the process of globalization. According to neo-liberal, which views globalization as a rational development, irrational discrimination by culture will disappear. But some feminists criticize globalization as a patriarchal phenomenon. So in this paper, the extent to which women in Korea have achieved equality with men in the workforce is assessed through an examination of the gender gap during 1993-2003. As the result, it was found that women had still lower status than men in spite of laws established to promote gender equality. Then to explore the direction for eliminating the patriarchal gaps, women in traditional Korea were reviewed. Traditionally women were oppressed by the practice of Naeoe differentiating between women and men. But on the other hand it made women to have equal status with men by maintaining their own productive area. So it was suggested that differentiation should be considered as a source of power to be adopted into women's activitism such as NGOs or international women' movement to achieve full equality in inequitable globalization.