Korean Women Empowerment

Research regarding women empowerment initiatives of various countries led to the following question: What would a sport-based initiative aimed at empowering Korean women need for development and would there be efficacy in its implementation? Such a program would need to be designed and aimed at improving the personal and social development of females in modern Korea. This research paper examines how sport and physical activity initiatives empower women and how such an initiative could empower Korean girls against modern Confucius based gender roles and biases. The statements of this paper draw from Korean history and current trends in Korean society that have been previously elucidated on by past scholars and researchers. In order to validate

Korea’s economical advancement over the last 70 years has changed the traditional culture of Korea significantly. Yim (2002) states that “Korean traditional culture has tended to become eroded and swiftly transformed and furthermore, to some extent given way to western culture in terms of the way of life of the people” (p. 38). This transition to a more western government of capitalism and free trade has lessoned the influence of Confucianism on daily life. Others, however, believe that Confucianism has just been adapted and evolved within the governing and business sectors of Korea. Sleziak (2013) emphasizes the development of South Korea has been swift but emphasizes daily life is still deeply influenced by Confucianism. He makes his point by stressing how new generations of Koreans choose careers in enterprises “where absolute acceptance of all decisions of the paternalistic figure of the director is enforced” (p.

Sociocultural theory is a concept created by Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) a Soviet psychologist who as cited from UNESCO’s webpage believed: social interaction plays a fundamental role in the development of cognition. Vgotsky believed everything is learned on two levels. First, through interaction with others, and then integrated into the individual’s mental structure.

Through out the history, Korean women were taught unconditional loyalty to father, husband and son. The obligatory obedience’s of women to men left very little room for independent growth of females. Women were taught to follow three obediences in relation to the male figureheads of Korean society (Taylor & Choy, 2005). Taylor and Choy also pointed out these Confucian obediences are based on the relationships of daughter to her father, wife to her husband, and a mother to her. Sociocultural theory describes the process of why women believed their subordinate roles in society were absolute. These Confucian ideals were all that women knew of gender roles and family values during the Choseon period (Jeong & Dreyer, 2003). As the history presented has pointed out, women have been subjugated and disempowered throughout Korean history. Much has changed in the last 70 years for Korea and its female population. According to the World