‘Gender card’ makes little appeal to woman

Rep. Park Geun-hye, second from left, presidential candidate of the ruling Saenuri Party, plays a game with students at Seoul Women’s University in this photo taken on Nov. 7 during talks there. Kim Sung-joo, right, chairwoman of the luxury MCM bag maker Sungjoo Group and chief campaign manger of the Park camp, joined the talks. / Yonhap

Will the gender of the candidates have any effect on voting behavior in the upcoming presidential election? Most women answered “no” to this question.

Rep. Park Geun-hye, the standard bearer of the ruling Saenuri Party, has played the gender card to woo female voters, saying the nation needs its first female president to change Korea’s male-dominated society. Describing it as true political reform, Park last week pledged to create an atmosphere in which women can succeed.

Under the proposed plan, the daughter of the late President Park Chung-hee pledged to increase the quota for women in public office, and establish vocational training centers to help women who left their jobs to care for children return to work.

The 60-year-old politician also vowed to help break the glass ceiling by creating women-friendly atmospheres and giving incentives to firms that hire female workers.

Female voters appeared not to be impressed by Park’s campaign tactic.

They said they didn’t consider gender as a critical factor when they vote.

There are other critical issues such as the candidate’s leadership and experience in the political arena, female voters approached by The Korea Times said.

“The fact that a candidate is a woman wouldn’t inspire me to vote for her,” said Park Mi-yeon, 31, a Korean lecturer. She said she does not support the 60-year-old conservative candidate because, for her, there are no appealing pledges.

Kim, a 24-year-old college student said “The biggest challenge facing many women is to balance their job and family. I question if Park can handle this because she has never experienced these demands in her life.” Kim said in her opinion Park seems not to be interested in women’s affairs.

Jeong Hyeon-mi, 29, a housewife, agrees with Kim, saying “When I think of Park Geun-hye, the first thing that comes to me is her father, (the late President Park Chung-hee). But it makes me feel that Rep. Park is an old-fashioned person who would be of little help to women,” she said.

Kim So-hee, a 22-year-old college student, says she is a supporter of Park, but stressed that it is not because of Park’s gender, but because of her background and the culture of her political party.

Although she personally does not think that the candidate’s gender is an important issue, Kim said there would be positive effects if the nation has its first female president. “I believe she would make more effort to deal with some affairs that male politicians would not think of,” she said. <The Korea Times/Jun Ji-hye>