This study is started from the awareness that Gender is the main element of consisting of social order and an important matter and performance property on the strategy of maintaining North Korean system. Nation designed the Gender according to the ne...
This study is started from the awareness that Gender is the main element of consisting of social order and an important matter and performance property on the strategy of maintaining North Korean system. Nation designed the Gender according to the need and intention of the nation, arranged it, and a certain type of Gender Regime. Moreover, Gender is not natural but made.
It is the knowledge, the concept, and the attitude shared in the society. And when it is practiced, it could have its own meaning at last. Therefore, this study has a purpose on examining the way that Gender Regime based on maintaining strategy and establishing system is restructured by women's practice.
Since 1945, North Korea has enforced the woman liberation policy with the purpose of realization of socialism. Former gender system was completely restructured and equality in gender relation was supported. And in order to breed up new socialists, it eliminated the various social gap, homogenized the citizen, and tried the gender-homogenization strategies. Thus, by arranging the laws and institutional strategies that make women laborer, women was put into the category of laborer. In addition, the sex-typed work and hierarchy was formed in factory, the physical and legal foundation supporting family was arranged.
After the late 1950s, North Korea established and institutionalized the rationing system. By establishing the receiving system, the social hierarchy was attempted by the background and the partisan system, that is combined with gender, and another type of gender order appeared. As a result, the hierarchy of gender was maintained, and the hierarchy by the background is strengthened. And to support the receiving system, the nation came to emphasize the femininity and utilize the sex-typed works and hierarchy to develop the economy by increasing the speed of production. Gender Regime of family was also strengthened as the role of mothers was emphasized.
Before the 1990s, the nation had good hold on the social. However, the economic crisis in the 1990s caused the change of the entire social and lost the control power. In order to overcome the crisis, the North Korean regime started to strengthen the existing discourse and systems. Meanwhile, appearance of market-place affected the existing gender order. As the social hierarchy based on belief in the party and a revolutionary spirit was maintained, the social hierarchy based on the economic wealth started to appear. But the existing social stratum couldn't be maintained. Depending on the level of political capital, whether the wealth is maintained or not was decided. In the gender relation, the complexity appeared. With the existing hierarchy, the economic climate affected the gender order, the various social relations between men and women, and between women appeared.
Under these national designs, the women's experience showed different aspects before and after the 1990s. The women before the 1990s naturally accepted the identity of laborer. They recognized the labor as the right and authority. The action to reform the social and education were the foundation allowing women to accept the national policy and to think it as a right. Because the national design proceeded in the state of the social concept of before liberation maintained, the citizen including women was able to accept the national design. In factory, women devoted themselves to work and performed the role of mother in family. In particular, at the time, the role of mother educating their children as a revolutionary was emphasized, so being a revolutionary by herself was important. Meanwhile, women had to try to do economic activity to raise their children in poor economic condition. And It was difficult to maintain the living and raise their children with the wage and distribution from the nation, so they do the house work unit as a sideline. In the relationship of marriage couple, man is a supporter and householder, accordingly, the hierarchy was maintained.
However, in the 1990s women's experience started to be changed. Women no longer tried to work in formal workplace like a factory. As the factory was not working, it was difficult to make a living. So they started business. With the revenue from the market, they ran the family economy, and that caused the conflict with the national norms. Moreover, as women became the real living supporter and family operator, the relationship of marriage couple was also changed. Women began to complain about the full responsibility of household affairs, and required the division of the work to their husbands. And as women tended to avoid the marriage and the delivery, that directly affected the social. In case of raising children, women didn't stick to the purpose of making children revolutionary spirit, but made effort to raise able children.
The experience of women before the 1990s appeared differently depending on the level of economical capital and the party member. They made their experience on the purpose of obtaining the qualification of party member and the economic benefits. However, after the 1990s, they were willing to get the economic benefits more than the partisan.
These experience of women was consisted of the concrete practices for surviving in given situation. The main types of women's practice styles appeared in three types. First of all, it showed the image of satisfying the national design, appropriating it, and strengthening it. They internalized and practiced the recognized gender model which the nation suggested. And they also tried to achieve the goal by understanding and appropriating the national policy. The second, In the distorted order by men and women, to get the social recognition and the financial revenue, they appropriated the male authorities and capitalized the sexuality. This caused that patriarchal system and gender regime were strengthened, to overcome the limit of given chance, it conspired with the patriarchal authority. Lastly, as the women understanding came into conflict with the national design, women were alienated from the national design. They didn't accept the existing gender model, and got out from the factory and their family This was raging after the 1990s, women no longer clang to the factory and family, but made new space and criticized the existing standard.
Based on the result of this study, The relationship between the social change of North Korea and the gender order is like the followings.
Before the 1990s the gender regime of the factory and family had the power to regulate and make order of the gender. Through this, the nation could control the citizen and maintain the order. The cease of factory by a scarcity of resources let the laborer get away from the factory. As people started to do business, the market (or marketplace) was getting bigger. In this situation, the nation directly controled and relaxed the market (or marketplace). The people got new information from the market and chose different lifestyle with before. The people started to go over the boundary between the region and the nation, and their life value and financial state were changed through the market. However, within the change, the gender regime didn't function relatively to women compared to men. Men should be in the workplace even though the factory was ceased. However, women could get out from the space. Despite that, men in dominant position of the factory needed to keep the position, because they could have financial benefits obtained from the position. In addition, they could get benefits from their wives or family with the capital while keeping the position.
The family gender regime showed more various aspects than the factory gender regime did. Women got out from the family gender regime. Regarding this, the nation set up the former discourse and system for women to restrengthen to the gender regime. But, the women didn't come back easily. They had already changed their lifestyles and worldview, and obtained lots of information from the market. For all that, the breakaway from the family gender regime was not connected to the change of direct gender order. The women breaking away from the family was escaped from the family gender regime, but the relationship with men in another space was like the one with husband. In other words, women's breakaway didn't weakened the gender order, but it could be a chance for women to experience the gender order in another space. And less skilled women contributed to keep the existing gender order by practicing in new space.
Like this, the gender order of North Korea shows the crack by the women's practicing and the change of the condition, but it is maintained through the intervention of nation and the try of the change. Women also adjusted themselves to the change with the existing way of practicing, accordingly, it didn't connected to the change of gender order. Nevertheless, the possibility of the change of gender order remains. Through women's experience of new society and getting information, various practices appeared, and these practices neuter the strategy of the nation. Moreover, there is a possibility to practice with the purpose of changing the condition, not to practice in the condition with accepting given situation.
Until now this article summarized the result of the study and examined the relation of the change of North Korea and gender order. This study had a significant on understanding North Korea in the view of gender and focusing on women's experience and practice. We tried to put women's, who was not regarded as important, as main figures in society by explaining the women's experience and practice actively. In particular, this study provided the outline to abundantly explain the change of women life after the 1990s. In addition, by surveying the relation of women's practice and the national design, we tried to find the base of changing or keeping the system of North Korea in the women's life, not in the system and policy of the nation.