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President Park Geun-Hye of South Korea: A Woman President without Women?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2017

Young-Im Lee  and
Farida Jalalzai
Young-Im Lee
Affiliation:
California State University - Sacramento
Farida Jalalzai
Affiliation:
Oklahoma State University
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Abstract

This article explores the first female president of South Korea, Park Geun-Hye, and her substantive representation of women. Though Park is one of many women executives from Asia taking the family route to power, her presidency still may lead to the implementation of women-friendly policies once elected. Park's government has expanded women-related policy areas first developed by previous progressive governments, but not consistently. Though mixed, her performance shows improvement over the previous conservative president, who shares Park's party affiliation. Since we can control for partisanship, Park administration's efforts on behalf of women prove particularly compelling. While advantaged by her political lineage, her government offers important policy benefits to women.

Type
Research Article
Information
Politics & Gender , Volume 13 , Issue 4 , December 2017 , pp. 597 - 617
Copyright
Copyright © The Women and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association 2017 

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