August Open Lecture: Korean Feminist Movement

On August 13, the ISC hosted its Open Lecture “The Korean Feminist Movement: Yesterday and Today.” The Gangnam Station murder that showed how a woman can be the target of discrimination and violence simply for being a minority and the recent controversies around “mirroring” which are used to expose the sexual discrimination in society greatly increased people’s interests in feminism. The room was completely packed. Ji-Ah Park, the Director of Education for Gender Equality of the Seoul Women’s Association, lectured for about an hour and half on the history and concepts of the feminist movement and its fight against all forms of discrimination and violence. She also lectured on the various social controversies and hot issues related to feminism.  Many questions were sparked by the lecture rapidly filling up the Q&A session. Later, even as some of the participants gathered to grab a few drinks, people were still passionately discussing the issue of feminism. On August 27, we had a trip to the Sister’s Library at the offices of the Seoul Women’s Association and now are planning a study on feminism.