Dialogues on Gender Inequality in South Korea and the UK
Lead Research Organisation:
UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
Department Name: English
Abstract
In 2021 South Korea and the UK are each reckoning with the effects of sexual and gender inequality and prejudice. This network aims to establish a cross-cultural dialogue on how language, literature, and the arts intervene on issues of gender inequality in society. It will bring together scholars from the UK and South Korea, across literary studies and the social sciences, to explore the international circulation of texts, and the politics of reading and writing in the era of #metoo.
The project will centre on two symposia, two workshops, and two visiting lectures, in order to investigate cultural exchange in discourses of gender inequality between the UK and South Korea. The field trips will include student-facing research-led workshops to explore the language and symbolism of gender inequalities in the wake of #metoo. Beyond the central structures of the network, we will work together to scope a range of opportunities for future collaboration and closer ties between the host institutions.
The problem of gender inequality in South Korea is long-standing and it has come to a climax in the past five years. Following the femicide 'Gangnam Station murder case' in 2016, the global #metoo movement gained traction in Seoul with activists protesting against the wider issue of how Confucian, patriarchal structures bear on women. Despite the fact that South Korea has the most highly educated female population in the OECD, 'the country's gender pay gap of 37% is OECD's largest, far more than twice the average in member states (14%). Average female earnings are 63% of male ones' (Foster-Carter, 2019). In the Global Gender Gap Index, South Korea is ranked 102nd (World Economic Forum, 2021). Yet feminist movements in South Korea have experienced a widespread backlash.
On paper, the UK's statistics on gender inequality present a more positive picture, with the country ranked 23rd in the 2021 Global Gender Gap Index. However, such statistics mask a culture in which the public discourse on equal opportunities embedded in institutions obfuscate the structural inequalities and prejudices, highlighted and heightened by the Covid pandemic. The Incel terrorist shooting in Plymouth in August 2021, Sarah Everard's murder case have catalysed national protests. However, the UK is yet to directly address the bases of gender-based violence in dehumanizing and sexualized language, as part of a national conversation.
The proposed project puts language, literature and the arts at the centre of its enquiry into gender inequality and violence, focusing on the vibrant cross-cultural exchanges between the two countries in this area. It puts emphasis on understanding how literary texts and reappropriated words and phrases have exerted influence across these cultures to both readdress inequalities and - contrariwise - to perpetrate them. It investigates how the written word has encapsulated and been weaponized against inequality across South Korean and UK cultures. Mindful that Gender Equality is one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals it asks more broadly too how cross-cultural dialogues in the arts have provided inspiration and community in the face of sexual and gender inequality, looking at the ways in which language and literature can be weaponized, and in what forums, to challenge sexual and gender inequality in South Korea and the UK. The symposia and workshops will take place in English, with all core participants fluent in English, and its main stated focus is the English-language circulation of terms and ideas (English in South Korea; Korean translated into English). This said, we welcome and will promote the discussion of translation practices with support from named participants. The written and podcast outputs will be translated into Korean and translation will be available for the Seoul-based events.
The project will centre on two symposia, two workshops, and two visiting lectures, in order to investigate cultural exchange in discourses of gender inequality between the UK and South Korea. The field trips will include student-facing research-led workshops to explore the language and symbolism of gender inequalities in the wake of #metoo. Beyond the central structures of the network, we will work together to scope a range of opportunities for future collaboration and closer ties between the host institutions.
The problem of gender inequality in South Korea is long-standing and it has come to a climax in the past five years. Following the femicide 'Gangnam Station murder case' in 2016, the global #metoo movement gained traction in Seoul with activists protesting against the wider issue of how Confucian, patriarchal structures bear on women. Despite the fact that South Korea has the most highly educated female population in the OECD, 'the country's gender pay gap of 37% is OECD's largest, far more than twice the average in member states (14%). Average female earnings are 63% of male ones' (Foster-Carter, 2019). In the Global Gender Gap Index, South Korea is ranked 102nd (World Economic Forum, 2021). Yet feminist movements in South Korea have experienced a widespread backlash.
On paper, the UK's statistics on gender inequality present a more positive picture, with the country ranked 23rd in the 2021 Global Gender Gap Index. However, such statistics mask a culture in which the public discourse on equal opportunities embedded in institutions obfuscate the structural inequalities and prejudices, highlighted and heightened by the Covid pandemic. The Incel terrorist shooting in Plymouth in August 2021, Sarah Everard's murder case have catalysed national protests. However, the UK is yet to directly address the bases of gender-based violence in dehumanizing and sexualized language, as part of a national conversation.
The proposed project puts language, literature and the arts at the centre of its enquiry into gender inequality and violence, focusing on the vibrant cross-cultural exchanges between the two countries in this area. It puts emphasis on understanding how literary texts and reappropriated words and phrases have exerted influence across these cultures to both readdress inequalities and - contrariwise - to perpetrate them. It investigates how the written word has encapsulated and been weaponized against inequality across South Korean and UK cultures. Mindful that Gender Equality is one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals it asks more broadly too how cross-cultural dialogues in the arts have provided inspiration and community in the face of sexual and gender inequality, looking at the ways in which language and literature can be weaponized, and in what forums, to challenge sexual and gender inequality in South Korea and the UK. The symposia and workshops will take place in English, with all core participants fluent in English, and its main stated focus is the English-language circulation of terms and ideas (English in South Korea; Korean translated into English). This said, we welcome and will promote the discussion of translation practices with support from named participants. The written and podcast outputs will be translated into Korean and translation will be available for the Seoul-based events.
| Description | The award has focused on two aspects: 1) identifying the cultures and langauges of gender inewaulity across South Korea and the UK; 2) identifying and developing collaborative practices between Exeter University of Ewha Woman's University that use this research as the basis for cross-insitutation agreements. The symposia and workshops undertaken to date have identified key points of cross-cultural synergy in: responses to the #metoo movement among under 25 females; inequalities in verbal and grammatical framing of workplace roles for women; concern about teaching certain historical literary texts in the new context of #metoo; commitment to investigating how the curricula and text choices in university departments can engage with the politics of this moment to engage all genders in constructively rethinking how gender prejudice is rooted in langauge and the boundaries of langauge (i.e. which elements of gender inequality are not rooted in langauge and how do these relate). We have effectively identified key discussion questions, 'what is gendered langauge, how do we identify it, and how has/does this shift across cultures and times within university settings?'; ' To what extent should choices of course text on literature courses be determined by social justice objectives?'; 'How do our students articulate gender difference and subjection, and how can literary study reverse-learn from this?'; 'How can the lived experience of cross-cultural gender inequality help to shape university policy and approaches to gender, in an increasingly international student community?' Work is ongoing on outputs as this grant end in July 2023. As a result of the ongoing project discussions and the first symposia last autumn, we have secured significant funding from the Korean governemnt (approx £200,000 over 3 years) to expand the project after the conclusion of this current grant. These funds will be paid directly from Ewha's Frontier Grant to the University of Exeter and will enable the expansion of our research into digital humanties. It will involve joint publication and two series of workshops involving a new collaborator from the University of Exeter (Chico Camargo, Compuer Sciences) not originally involved in the project. |
| Exploitation Route | Policy paper on teaching gender in higher education: for use in universities in the UK and Korea in the first instance, with potential for expanded use and future development via new collaborations with universities in other countries. Website exhibition (under construction): for use by people looking for an accessible presetnation of cross-cultural issues in gender inequality and potention solutions. Edited collection based on conference papers in Gender Inequality Symposium (Seoul): in preparation. Teaching practice: workshops with undergraduates have illuminated similarities and differences in teaching practices across cultures. We are learning from each other's approaches and this will be ongoing as part of the next funded stage (Frontier Grant) outlined above. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Description | Our findings are ongoing. As such they have not yet been used impactfully but we are making plans, as indicated in the Key Findings section. |
| Sector | Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal |
| Description | Frontier Grant: this research award wias granted by the Korean Government via Ewha Women's University in order tho develop our research via digital humanties intelligence. This grant will run from March 2023-2026. |
| Organisation | Ewha Womans University, Seoul |
| Country | Korea, Republic of |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | This project has only just started but it promises the following knowledge and experience from us: Kate Hext: contributing knowledge of the langauge of gender inequaltity internationally and Further experience in mentoring female academics. Chico Camargo: contributing interdisciplinary research and collaborative experience in the use of computational tools to gather data on gender for use in te humanities. |
| Collaborator Contribution | As above: this is a new project and more will be know by the time of the next report. |
| Impact | As above. |
| Start Year | 2023 |