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Johnston, Rin

Despite the extensive body of research on the economic impacts of the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, the role of traditional gender beliefs in shaping employment outcomes for women has remained underexplored. In this thesis, I argue that regional variations in neo-Confucian gender norms significantly influenced the extent to which women in South Korea were disproportionately impacted by job losses during and after the crisis. I propose that regions with stronger traditional gender beliefs faced more severe negative employment outcomes for women, as these beliefs hindered efforts to advance gender equality in the labor market. To test this argument, I combine employment data from 1989 to 2005 with a regional index of traditional gender beliefs created from World Value Survey results. Using regression analyses, I examine the relationship between gender beliefs and employment outcomes across various regions. The results demonstrate that regions with stronger traditional gender norms saw a significant increase in gender disparities in employment post-crisis. This study contributes to the literature on gender, economics, and cultural norms, offering new insights into how traditional gender beliefs intersect with economic crises and affect marginalized groups.

Korea (South)

Text

University of British Columbia. POLI_V 492

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0448668

Arts, Faculty of; Political Science, Department of

Undergraduate

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