Young-Im Lee, Ph.D.
young-im.lee@csus.edu
Associate Professor
California State University, Sacramento
Research Interests
Gender and Politics
Representation and Electoral Systems
Asian Politics
Korean Politics
Countries of Interest
South Korea
Taiwan
Publications:
Journal Articles:
Tsai Ing-wen was elected as the first woman president of Taiwan in 2016 and re-elected in 2020. Did the prospect of “the first woman president” shape the expectations of the changes she may bring about regarding women and lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer (LGBTQ) rights? Analyzing 35 in-depth elite interviews, this paper demonstrates Tsai’s campaign did not benefit much from “the first woman” slogan, her cabinet included fewer women than her predecessors’, and she could not proactively push for marriage equality after the elections. Tsai’s case illuminates the constraints women leaders face in promoting representation for marginalized groups.
If gender quotas are applied to only one tier in a mixed-member majoritarian system, do we see a spillover effect of an increased proportion of women in the other tier? Based on statistical analysis of national legislative elections in South Korea from 1988 to 2016, this study casts doubt on the validity of the pipeline theory. The analysis shows that South Korea's gender quota has been achieving its primary goal of the political empowerment of women since its adoption in 2004, but with weak inter-tier contagion effect. In-depth interviews reveal the unique culture of the National Assembly and political parties which deem district-tier seats more prestigious than PR seats, and the informal practice of disadvantageous candidate district assignments lead to PR members having a hard time continuing their political careers once their terms as PR members are over.
What influences strategic voting? This paper evaluates the influence of two often overlooked factors: the gender of the candidates and the nomination process. Through our experimental design using South Korea as a case study, we find strategic voting to be less common than conventional wisdom would expect. Furthermore, our findings show that both gender and nomination paths influence voting behaviour, with implications for efforts to promote gender equity.
This paper examines the role of gender and familial ties in Park Geun-Hye’s political trajectory to become the first female president of South Korea.
This article explores the first female president of South Korea, Park Geun-Hye, and her substantive representation of women. Though Park is one of many women executives from Asia taking the family route to power, her presidency still may lead to the implementation of women-friendly policies once elected. Park's government has expanded women-related policy areas first developed by previous progressive governments, but not consistently. Though mixed, her performance shows improvement over the previous conservative president, who shares Park's party affiliation. Since we can control for partisanship, Park administration's efforts on behalf of women prove particularly compelling. While advantaged by her political lineage, her government offers important policy benefits to women.
Book Chapters:
This chapter analyzes the first female presidents of South Korea and Taiwan, Park Geun-hye and Tsai Ing-wen, focusing on each one’s biographical background, term as party chairperson, presidential bid, and election results
Women in Politics in Northeast Asia: South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan
Lee offers an overview of women’s numerical and substantive political representation in South Korea. Since women’s suffrage in 1948 and electing the first female legislator the following year, the share of women in the National Assembly has grown steadily and slowly. This chapter briefly examines how women gained suffrage before outlining the trend in numerical representation of women at the national level. After discussing the reasons for the adoption and effects of the gender quota and comparing the political and biographical background of the elected legislators, the chapter assesses the impact of women’s presence in the national legislature by examining all the women-friendly bill sponsorship activities between 2000 and 2016.
This chapter discusses women’s political representation in the national legislatures in four Northeast Asian countries: Japan, South Korea, Mongolia, and Taiwan.