Re-examining the Women’s Movement in Cold War South Korea and Beyond

Jan 9, 2026

Katri Kauhanen, a Doctor of Social Sciences and researcher at the University of Turku, explores the intricacies of the women's movement in Cold War South Korea. She discusses the historical context of feminism in the country and its ties to current debates. Kauhanen reframes activism during authoritarianism as negotiation rather than dormancy. She highlights key issues like family law and abortion policy, and emphasizes its global implications through the lens of Cold War feminism, showcasing the enduring impact on today's gender discourse.

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ANECDOTE

From 'New Women' To Council Leaders

Katri's research began from curiosity about 'new women' of the colonial era and Park Chung-hee's authoritarian period.
She discovered the Korean National Council of Women linked colonial-era activists to later authoritarian-era leadership.

INSIGHT

Negotiation Over Pure Oppression

Katri reframes authoritarian-era women's activism as negotiation rather than pure oppression.
This view reveals ambivalence, complicity, and transnational continuities previously overlooked.

INSIGHT

A Broad, Practical Agenda

The Korean National Council of Women prioritized family law, family planning, and consumer protection alongside national defense issues.
Their agenda combined domestic welfare, reproductive health, and international initiatives like the UN Year of Women.

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In the past decade, feminism has become one of the heated topics in public debate in South Korea. Feminism is embraced by activists, attacked in election campaigns, and increasingly framed as the source of conflict between men and women. In this episode, Outi Luova talks to Katri Kauhanen to trace the historicity behind the contemporary debates and to ask why the history of the women’s movement still matters today.

Drawing on insights from Kauhanen’s recently published dissertation, titled Re-examining the Women’s Movement in Cold War South Korea and Beyond: The History of the Korean National Council of Women, we discuss the history of the women’s movement in authoritarian era South Korea through the lens of the Council, conceptualize Cold War feminism and consider how the Cold War era archives of the international women’s movement can also serve the research on Asian women’s activism.

Our guest, Katri Kauhanen from the Center of East Asian Studies, University of Turku, is a Doctor of Social Sciences whose work explores Korean history, history of the women’s movements and the transnational networks and discourses through which women organized, collaborated, and articulated agency during the Cold War.

Outi Luova is a senior university lecturer at the Center of East Asian Studies, University of Turku, Finland.

Link to the thesis

The Nordic Asia Podcast is a collaboration sharing expertise on Asia across the Nordic region, brought to you by the following academic partners: Asia Centre, University of Tartu (Estonia), Asian studies, University of Helsinki (Finland), Centre for Asian Studies, Vytautas Magnus University (Lithuania), Centre for East Asian Studies, University of Turku (Finland) and Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, Lund University (Sweden) and Norwegian Network for Asian Studies.

We aim to produce timely, topical and well-edited discussions of new research and developments about Asia.

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