Votes for women: S. Korea’s first feminist party seeks parliament seats
Seoul: South Korea is regularly ranked lowest in the developed world for gender equality, but for the first time a feminist party is seeking parliamentary seats at Wednesday’s election, accusing the political establishment of having failed women.
The party was founded last month on International Women’s Day on the back of a surge of anger over the country’s spycam epidemic and other crimes, and against a backdrop of an enduring pay gap and employment and childcare issues.
But it has a mountain to climb.
It has put forward four candidates in the proportional representation section of the vote, and to secure a single seat will need three percent of the popular vote.
"I had signed petitions, I participated in rallies against sexual violence against women, but realised it wasn’t going to work. So I’ve decided to go to the National Assembly," said Kim Ju-hee, one of the four, who at 25 is among the youngest candidates in the whole election.
The party has about 10,000 members -- around three-quarters of them in their 20s -- and Kim says she will never marry nor have children in her efforts to fight patriarchy.
But with the party unlikely to attract male voters, the threshold means it needs to secure the backing of six percent of all women. - AFP