South Korea presidential election

Exploring new survey data on perceptions of gender discrimination in South Korea, which became a major cleavage point in Wednesday's election.

Women of ages 18-49 claim that they have been victims of gender discrimination at higher rates than older women, and at higher rates than men across all age categories. Surprisingly, our findings indicate that conservative men were less likely than their progressive and moderate counterparts to claim they have been victims of gender discrimination, suggesting that anti-feminist backlash among younger Korean men may be redefining conceptions of what constitutes discrimination. In contrast, men across varying age categories may be split as to whether “gender discrimination” applies to both men or women and may also have narrower definitions of it. Thus, the apparent gap between men and women who claim they have been victims of discrimination may also drive the gender gap observed in believing it is commonplace, overpowering the effect of ideological categorization. Consistent with previous survey work, we also found that young men, particularly those 18-29, claim that they have been victims of gender discrimination at higher rates than men in succeeding age categories. Unsurprisingly, we found females more likely to agree with both statements, with 83.76 percent seeing discrimination as commonplace compared to 61.36 percent of males, and 63.92 percent of females stating they have been a victim of discrimination compared to 36.08 percent of males. Women across all age categories may have broader views of what constitutes gender discrimination and are also more likely to interpret it as negatively impacting women. The electoral consequences of these shifts are hard not to notice, with a January Gallup Korea poll finding a clear divergence in approval rating for Moon by gender among those in their 20s and 30s. We wanted to identify how the South Korean public was viewing gender discrimination leading up to the presidential election. A key part of the debate is state-perpetuated gender discrimination, rooted in traditional concepts of gender roles. Survey research similarly shows a growing tendency, especially among younger men, to view gender equality efforts as discriminatory and equate them with preferential treatment toward women. In 2017, President Moon Jae-in campaigned on a promise of becoming a “feminist president,” promoting gender equality policies.