Women's suffrage in East Asia

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East Asia (in the narrower sense)

The women's suffrage in East Asia , so in North Korea, South Korea, Japan and China was only after the Second World War reached. Women's suffrage in Japan was part of the democratic constitution that dates back to the American occupation after 1945. On December 12, 1945, active and passive women's suffrage was introduced in Japan for the lower house and on February 24, 1947 for the upper house. The Japanese colonial rule over Korea ended only in 1945. In South Korea active and passive were women's suffrage on July 17, 1948 law in North Korea even before independence, namely on 30 July 1946. In China , many women began shortly after of Sun Yat sen led revolution of 1911 to call for the right to vote. That same year, the Guangdong Provincial Assembly granted them this right. Ten women were elected to this congregation in 1912. These were the first women to be elected to public office in Asia. In the first elections under the Chinese constitution of 1947–1948, women took part in national elections for the first time in the history of China. On October 1, 1949, the People's Republic of China was established and universal active and passive suffrage was guaranteed for both genders.

Investigation of possible influencing factors on the political representation of women

War and new constitutions

War and the subsequent drafting of new constitutions often brought about the introduction of women's suffrage, regardless of the new orientation of the state: in China it was a communist state, in India a democracy.

Connection between the changed role of women, nationalism and progress

In China, women's political activities have always been associated with nationalism and the belief that the oppression of women, embodied in the tradition of the tying , is an obstacle to the nation's progress. This attitude of women is in contrast to the prevailing opinion in Britain or France, for example, where the establishment saw it as part of the national mission to keep women in their traditional roles. Nor have women's affairs been marginalized as in the West. Hence, women were an important part of the revolutionary movement of 1911 that led to the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty and the establishment of the Republic of China : women smuggled weapons, planted explosives, and formed combat units. They saw parallels between their suppression by the men and the suppression of the native Chinese Han people , who made up the majority, by the Quings, who were Manchu people . As in Europe and India, it can be shown in China that women's suffrage became a pressing issue at a time of national uprising and constitutional amendments. As the example of Xiang Jingyu shows, women's access to leadership positions within the movement has been difficult and not independent of connection with a powerful man.

The nationalists had given Chinese women the right to vote under historical circumstances that also had a positive effect on women's suffrage in other countries: after a major national uprising - in the case of China's civil war and hostile invasion. This pattern is found in Africa and, as part of an attempt to counter a communist threat, also in Scandinavia and the Netherlands .

The Chinese communists rewarded Chinese women as soon as they were in power. Similarly, at the Erfurt Party Congress in 1891 , the German Social Democrats declared women's suffrage to be one of their goals. Links between revolutionary ideas and the position of women in China were found in Mao's writings very early on, but the rigid doctrine that the people should have power stood in the way of implementation. After all, the communists paved the way for women's suffrage not because they trusted democracy, but because they believed in the power of the masses.

Foreign influences

The Chinese women's suffrage movement was probably the only one in the world to follow Emmeline Pankhurst's line and use property destruction for its goal. Aletta Jacobs had met Chinese activists on her travels in 1912 and reported that, according to their statements, the cause of this radical approach was to be found in the Chinese press, which did not report on global feminism, but only on the struggle strategies of the British suffragettes . Thus, the Chinese could only have orientated themselves on these models.

Individual states

China

Japan

North Korea

Even before independence in 1948, active and passive women's suffrage was guaranteed under Allied administration in the Gender Equality Act , which was introduced on July 30, 1946.

The first election of women to the national parliament took place in August 1948. 69 women were elected.

South Korea

Active and passive women's suffrage became law on July 17, 1948.

The first election of a woman to the national parliament, Yim Yong-sin Louise , came in 1949.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mart Martin: The Almanac of Women and Minorities in World Politics. Westview Press Boulder, Colorado, 2000, p. 204.
  2. ^ Jad Adams: Women and the Vote. A world history. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2014, ISBN 978-0-19-870684-7 , page 372.
  3. ↑ a b Jad Adams: Women and the Vote. A world history. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2014, ISBN 978-0-19-870684-7 , page 355.
  4. ↑ a b c Jad Adams: Women and the Vote. A world history. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2014, ISBN 978-0-19-870684-7 , page 356.
  5. ^ Jad Adams: Women and the Vote. A world history. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2014, ISBN 978-0-19-870684-7 , page 357.
  6. ↑ Christina Gilmartin: The Politics of Gender in the Making of the Party . In: Tony Saich, Hans J. Van de Ven (Eds.): New Perspectives on the Chinese Communist Revolution . ME Sharpe, New York (NY) 1995, ISBN 978-1-5632-4428-5 , p. 46
  7. ↑ a b c d Jad Adams: Women and the Vote. A world history. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2014, ISBN 978-0-19-870684-7 , page 366.
  8. ^ Jad Adams: Women and the Vote. A world history. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2014, ISBN 978-0-19-870684-7 , page 359.
  9. ^ Aletta Jacobs: Memories: My Life as an International Leader in Health, Suffrage and Peace. New York, Feminist Press 1996, p. 161. quoted from Jad Adams: Women and the Vote. A world history. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2014, ISBN 978-0-19-870684-7 , page 359.
  10. ↑ - New Parline: the IPU's Open Data Platform (beta). In: data.ipu.org. July 30, 1946, accessed January 14, 2019 .
  11. ^ Mart Martin: The Almanac of Women and Minorities in World Politics. Westview Press Boulder, Colorado, 2000, p. 213.
  12. ^ Mart Martin: The Almanac of Women and Minorities in World Politics. Westview Press Boulder, Colorado, 2000. p. 214.
  13. ^ Mart Martin: The Almanac of Women and Minorities in World Politics. Westview Press Boulder, Colorado, 2000, p. 215.
  14. ^ Mart Martin: The Almanac of Women and Minorities in World Politics. Westview Press Boulder, Colorado, 2000, p. 217.