Historical Female Figures to Remember
By Seo-yeong
Published: March 7, 2020
Translated by Chloe
Sherliker
With its awkward
spelling error, If There Wer No Men in this World at first seems a somewhat
careless title. The book’s title, however, has been selected with utmost care.
It is lifted from feminist independence activist Ho Jong-suk’s article from the
nationalist magazine Byeolgeongon, originally published February 1, 1929.
In a time when one could
likely count the number of women in Seoul with short hair on one hand, Ho
Jung-suk, along with female activists Ju Sejuk and Go Myung-ja, defied the
social norms of the time by cutting her hair short and playing in streams in
central Seoul in broad daylight. Her words prove to be thought-provoking even
when placed in a modern context:
‘If there wer no men in
this world, and only women, all the lowly troubles from our daily lives would
disappear. If you look at the social structures and economic systems of today,
it may seem that women cannot survive without the governance and protection of
men. Yet if somehow all the men in the world wer to disappear and the world
became a place where only women exist, all social and economic structures would
come to work in women’s favour. Each woman would gain the capacity to become
entirely independent; her past pains from everyday trials would come to an end.
Consequently, the resistance movements that women of the world today are
conducting, clamouring and shouting, would naturally cease to exist.’
Would a world without
men really result in the end of all socio-economic problems? It would seem
difficult to argue today that a world with women alone would seriously lead to
happiness for all and the end of all conflict and social disparity. Yet given
that we remain in a society where patriarchy and androcentrism remain firmly
enrooted in everyday life, Ho Jung-suk’s imaginary world does seem somewhat
appealing.
 |
| If There Wer No Men in this World (Gom-bam, Newt Media 2019) |
If There Wer No Men in
this World (Gombam, Newt Media 2019) introduces ten female independence
activists previously overlooked within Korean history textbooks: Chung
Chil-sung, Nam Ja-hyeon, Cho Shin-seong, Kang Ju-ryong, Kim Myung-si, Park
Cha-jeong, Ho Jong-suk, Ju Sejuk, Lee Sun-gum, and Park Jin-heung. It also asks
how many other heroic and now forgotten female independence fighters may have
existed in Korea’s past.
As a woman living in a
society where the lives of women and minorities, who may face three or more
types of oppression, remain marginalised, I became curious about the lives of
these historical female independence figures.
Nam Ja-hyeon
In the middle of If
There Wer No Men in this World’s red cover, there is a woman wearing a white
hanbok and pointing a gun into the distance. This woman is the independence
activist Nam Ja-hyeon. Although her name is likely unfamiliar to most, she was
portrayed by actress Jun Ji-hyun in the 2015 film Assassination (directed by
Choi Dong-hoon) under the character name of Ahn Ok-yun. Nam Ja-hyeon is the only female independence
activist in Korean history who was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal
of the Order of National Foundation.
The author stated that
the image of Nam Ja-hyeon on the front of the book is not intended to emphasise
the brute force of the gun itself, but rather, the force felt in directing it
at somebody. Unlike her character within Assassination, in reality Nam Ja-hyeon
failed to complete her final assassination attempt at the age of 61. She was
arrested and then died shortly after her release from prison. Yet like Ahn
Ok-yun, Nam continued ‘fighting until the very end’ (to quote the film
character). During her life she cut into the tips of her own fingers three
times to send messages in blood. She also poured efforts into educating women,
and came to be highly respected by the Korean independence fighters based in
Manchuria.
 |
| Born
into a poor household, Chung Chil-seong was a gisaeng who came to take a
pioneering role in Korea’s first nationalist and socialist women’s group, the
Korean Women’s Friendship Society. In 1927, she became a central member of its
sister organisation, Kunuhui(Friends of the Rose of Sharon). Source: Encyclopedia of Korean Culture |
Chung Chil-seong
The March 1919
independence movement further granted some mobility for Koreans over previously
rigid career and social status hierarchies. One such individual was activist
Chung Chil-seong. After becoming a gisaeng at the age of seven, Chung
Chil-seong self-educated and went on to become involved in the March First
Movement. She soon became an author for the first Korean women’s magazine,
‘Sinyeoja’, writing under the pen name ‘The Reflective Gisaeng’ (Sasang
Gisaeng).
In May 1924, Chung
Chil-seong took a leading role in the formation of the Korean Women's
Friendship Society, the first nationalist activist movement based on socialist
understandings of feminist theories. She claimed that the uprooting of
oppressive social customs and structures in Korea was imperative for women’s
liberation. Whilst active in the Korean Women’s Friendship Society, Chung
called for solidarity, saying, ‘Let’s join hands with those who share our
understanding.’
By 1927, Chung had moved
on to working with the affiliated nationalist and socialist women's
organisation Kunuhui (Friends of the Rose of Sharon). Here, she called for both
Koreans and in turn the whole human race to adopt a new revolutionary code:
fighting to independently achieve their own ‘self-liberation’. Kunuhui fought
against the Japanese and for women’s liberation until the organisation was
forcibly disbanded by Japanese authorities in 1931.
Unlike Ho Jung-suk and
the prominent feminist Na Hye-sok, Chung came from a lower socioeconomic
background. She argued that the movement’s main objective should centre on ‘the
women who have nothing’, and believed that the independence movement could only
move forwards once it had solved the problem of Korean women being economically
and sexually oppressed. She was an individual who identified the numerous
problems of colonial capitalism as being firmly linked with patriarchy.
Chung Chil-sung remained
continually involved in these social movements so that she would be able to
reach out to women within the lower classes. She firmly believed that allying
together with other social movements was essential in achieving the
emancipation of women. These 20th century ideas seem to be applicable not only
in the past colonial period, but further for both the present state of feminist
movements today, and for their direction and development in the future.
 |
Kang Ju-ryong, a worker
at the Pyongyang Pyeongwon Rubber Factory, sits on the rooftop of Ulmil
Pavilion in 1931 to protest against poor working conditions and wage cuts. Source: Letters from Korean Women’s History
|
‘I refuse to come down
until the foreman of the Pyeongwon Rubber Factory retracts his statement
regarding the wage cuts…. And do not think that they will succeed in taking me
down from here by force! I would rather fall and die than have anyone try and
put a ladder against this roof.’
“An Interview with Kang
Ju-ryong, the Woman Protester on Ulmil Pavilion’s Roof and Lady Independence
Fighter”, Donggwang, Volume 31, July 1931
Kang Ju-ryong took up
work at a Pyongyang rubber factory to provide for her family in a time of
increasing global economic instability. Powerful capitalist leaders had begun
to implement wide-scale wage cuts, in an attempt to avoid the perils of the
economic recessions inflicted by the Great Depression, which started in 1929.
The labour counter-movement that sprung up in response functioned as the
starting point for Korean female workers to begin their own fight against their
colonialists. Even before Japan’s systematic use of Korean forced labour,
Korean women were continually being subjected to exploitation and violence in their
workplaces.
Kang Ju-ryong emerged as
a central figure within these protest movements and linked hunger strikes. The
women’s efforts, however, seemingly came to a halt in 1931. All 49 female
workers in the factory, including Kang, were forcibly ejected out the front
door of the factory by Japanese police. Thinking death would be preferable to
being unable to feed her family, Kang headed to Ulmil Pavilion, built during
the Goguryeo era and known as the highest point in Pyongyang. Although she
arrived at the pavilion with the intention to end her life, Kang had a change
of heart. She proceeded another thirty metres upwards to the very highest point
of the roof. Here, Kang then conducted Korea’s first high-altitude sit-in
protest for eight hours.
Even today, nearly 90
years after Kang’s original protest, there have been several individuals who
have been inspired to try and replicate this type of high-altitude protest. In
2019, there was the conflict regarding the fired KTX train attendants, who were
rehired after 13 years of campaigns and protests against unjust layoffs. (Translator's
note: Female KTX train attendants used various forms of protests including head
shaving, fasting, iron chaining, and sit-ins on tops of towers.) From September 2019 until January 2020,
Korean highway toll collectors also engaged in a sit-in protest. Though working
conditions generally appear to have improved since Kang’s time, the amount of
time that workers remain on the rooftops, along with the overall strike
duration period, has increased. Repeated incidents of sexual harassment and
sexual assault, primarily from workplace relations, have further led to
unremitting struggles by female workers over the last few years - as
exemplified by the #MeToo movement.
The harsh realities of
the workplace that constricted Kang Ju-ryong in the past still hold women back
today. It is for this reason above all that we must keep historical female
figures such as Kang alive in our memories. These women remind us that we
cannot simply look back at our history from an impartial position. We must come
together and stand with the women who are raising their voices against
inequalities in the workplace today.
 |
| A
picture of a Japanese surveillance identity card of independence activist and
socialist feminist activist Ho Jung-suk (1908-1991). Ho was 29 at the time of
this picture. The book title ‘If Ther Were No Men in this World’ is lifted from
one of Ho’s articles. Source: Encyclopedia of Korean Culture |
Between the 101st
anniversary of the March First Independence Movement and International Women’s
Day, and within a society that still only knows of teenage patriotic martyr Yu
Gwang-sun when we speak of ‘female independence activists’, I think back again
to the woman in white on the book cover: Ho Jung-suk, who gave a lecture at the
International Women's Day commemoration event on March 8, 95 years ago.
If There Wer No Men in
this World introduces us to ten normal female figures from Korea’s past. The
book takes an unbiased approach to the socialist independence movements, is
careful to paint the women as not beings superhuman will but ordinary people
who felt uncertainty, frustration, and worry, and above all, treats these women
as autonomous and independent individuals. These women cannot and should not be
recognised as independence activists only when they are mentioned in
correspondence with men.
If There Wer No Men in
this World lets us connect with and commemorate these women who have vanished
into history - women who fought for equal rights not only for a few years, but
for their entire lives.
Original article:
http://ildaro.com/8666
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