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ABSTRACT
This paper explores the under-researched topic of women’s representation in local politics in Asia. Specifically, we investigate the kinds of opportunities and challenges regarding the issue of quotas, using the case of municipal council elections in Korea. Strongly enforced quotas in the proportional representation tier of the mixed electoral system have indeed worked favorably for women’s representation in local elections since the adoption of the quota law. Yet, we also note two distinct factors that challenge quotas at the local level in the country. First, party leaders initially agree to the idea of quotas to gain public recognition, but may lack commitment and show resistance when it comes to their actual implementation. Further, the general public consensus that favors reforms in order to bar party involvement in local politics as a way to achieve grassroots democracy, may place quotas at risk, as current laws require mandatory quota implementation in the parties’ candidate lists. We end our paper by highlighting the importance of grassroots democracy and that the key to achieve this goal is not only to guarantee transparency in the candidate nomination process, but also to ensure that parties commit to quota implementation.
ABSTRACT IN KOREAN
이 논문은 한국의 기초자치의회의원 선거를 사례로 정당 후보자 공천에 있어서 여성할당제의 효과를 분석하였다. 기초선거에 도입된 여성할당제는 정당공천 비례대표 명부의 홀수번을 여성에게 할당하고 이를 어기는 경우에 그 명부를 수리하지 않는 강제조항을 두어 기초선거에서 여성의원의 당선에 크게 기여하였다. 하지만 기초선거에서 할당제가 실시된 지 불과 얼마 되지 않아 할당제의 효과를 약화시킬 수 있는 논의가 대두되었다. 이 논문은 할당제의 효과를 약화시킬 수 있는 두 가지 요인, 특히 정당의 불성실한 할당제 운용방식과 기초선거 에서 정당의 관여를 배제하려는 직접민주주의에 대한 지지여론이 결과적으로 여성할당제의 취지와 상반되는 결과를 가져올 수 있다는 점을 지적하였다. 결론적으로 지역차원에서의 풀뿌리 민주주의 달성이라는 궁극적인 목표를 위해서는 기존정당의 후보자 공천과정의 투명성 및 정당의 성실한 할당제 이행 노력이 필요함을 제안하였다.
Acknowledgement
This research was supported by The Academy of Korean Studies under [Grant AKS-2014-R06].
Notes on contributors
Jiso YOON is Associate Research Fellow at Korean Women’s Development Institute. Her research interests include women’s political representation, policy advocacy, and the policymaking in East Asia. She is the author of Advocacy and Policymaking in South Korea: How the Legacy of State and Society Relationships Shapes Contemporary Public Policy (SUNY Press 2016). Her recent works have appeared in international journals such as Korea Observer, Politics & Gender, Journal of Public Policy, and Asian Journal of Political Science. Email: [email protected].
Ki-young SHIN is Associate Professor of Political Science and Gender Studies at the Institute for Gender Studies and the Graduate School of Humanities and Sciences, Ochanomizu University in Japan. Her research interests include gender politics and leadership, women’s political representation, and women’s movements in East Asia. Her recent works were published in international journals such as Pacific Affairs, Politics & Gender, International Political Science Review, and Journal of Korean Studies. She has also contributed to edited volumes, including Oxford Handbook of Feminist Theory (Oxford Univ. Press 2015) and Gender and Power (Palgrave McMillan 2016). She is on the editorial board of the Korean Journal of Japanese Studies and the Journal of Gender Studies and the winner of Betty Nosveld Best Paper on Women and Politics by Western Political Science Association in the US in 2004. Email: [email protected].
Notes
1 Throughout the paper, we use the term subnational politics to refer to the political processes of both provincial (i.e., metropolitan cities and provinces) and municipal governments (i.e., cities, counties, and districts), and the term local politics to specifically refer to the political process of municipal governments (the grassroots level).
2 Also referred to as Korea throughout the article.
3 Currently known as the Liberty Korea Party (since February 2017).
4 For a detailed discussion on the role of the women's movement in pushing for the quota legislation, see Shin (Citation2016).
5 Mixed electoral systems—a combination of PR and majoritarian—govern all three levels of the parliamentary elections in South Korea today. The National Assembly is represented by a total of 300 members, of which 246 members are selected via single-member districts and 54 members via a nation-wide PR district. Provincial councils are represented by a total of 761 legislators, 81 are elected from 16 PR districts (each province/city constitutes one PR district), and 680 members from 680 single-member districts. Finally, municipal councils are represented by a total of 2888 members, with 2512 elected from 1039 multi-member districts with SNTV and 376 from 230 PR districts.
6 Despite strong penalties associated with non-compliance in local elections, parties are not punished when a female candidate who was initially included on the party's candidate list resigns and she is replaced by a male candidate before the actual elections.
7 The revised quotas require parties to include at least one female candidate for every National Assembly constituency district and have resulted in improving women's political representation in the municipal council elections, but not so for the provincial assembly. In order to enhance women's representation as a whole in local politics, the varying impact of quotas in municipal and provincial elections should be noted and carefully studied in future.
8 In the year 2006, the Uri Party was the second one to win most seats in the local elections. Thus, adding the Uri Party to the list would suggest that 87.5 percent of the seats were won by the three major parties in the municipal elections that year.
9 The structural reasons underlying this two-party dominance need to be closely examined. In the majoritarian tier, we need to pay attention to the unconventional operation of the current medium-sized districts represented by 2-4 members. While there were a total of 161 four-member districts when multi-member districts first appeared in local council elections, many of these later became two-member districts, making it convenient for each of the two major parties to secure a seat. The election law does not prohibit this practice, and instead grants local legislatures the authority to rearrange electoral districts. As a result, the total number of four-member districts stands at 39, as of 2007 (Kang & Yun, 2007). In contrast, in the proportional representation tier, the dominance of two parties can be explained by the small number of council seats assigned via proportional representation, as well as the PR districts, represented by 1-2 members. In such instances, the major parties that are likely to receive the greatest level of support from voters win almost all the PR seats. In the end, these practices prevent the possibility of the minority parties winning seats, both in the local constituency district and that of PR. In this context, the biggest problem in the current quota system implemented in local council elections is that it fails to promote women's political representation and diversity at the same time.