South Korea
KIM, Oksoon (1996), South Korea, in MAK, Grace C.L. (ed). Women, Education and
Development in Asia: Cross-National Perspectives, Garland Publishing, New York
and London, 51-63.
Because studies of the impact of education on development typically came to
differentiate females from males, the author sets out to investigate the extent to which
female labour has contributed to economic growth since 1960 in Korea. There is a
context of parallel and rapid expansion of educational opportunities in that country, but
any connection needs to be properly demonstrated both in general terms, as well as in
relation to gender.
The author based the study on three assumptions: that educational expansion in South
Korea provided more opportunities for males than for females; that female labour
contributed to economic groeth in Korea in different ways than did male labour; that
educational expansion did not lead to improvement in the economic circumstances of
the female population during the years of rapid economic development. Data are
provided to illustrate the phenomenal growth in the education sector in South Korea in
recent decades as well as the continued popular demand for this service. The figures
show that the vast majority of investment and innovation has come from the private
sector, and the author argues that the expansion has reinforced inequality in respect of
educational opportunities open to males and females. In Korea this whole issue is
dominated by social class leading to an unequal distribution of new educational
opportunities. This in turn affects girls adversely and is even more reinforced by
curricular stereotyping, making, for example, home economics compulsory for girls and
technology for boys. This meant that, at a time of massive industrial and manufacturing
expansion, certain industries concentrated on acquiring female workforces. This was
due to low employment costs for greater skills and higher reliability. Regardless of
sector, Korean females are paid about half that received by male counterparts. Cheap
female labour is concentrated in the burgeoning cities. So because the manufacturing
sector has occupied such an important place in Korea's economic growth, low paid
female employees have contributed significantly to the accumulation of capital
necessary for sustained economic growth.
A number of sources are the examined by the author in attempting to illuminate the
relationship, if any, between educational expansion and economic growth. It is clear
that in the South Korean case, most females are educated way beyond the level required
for the job they are doing, and it is obvious that human capital theory does not apply to
the female working population in that country. Women continue to work under poor
conditions for low wages, regardless of their educational background. Conversely male
workers are sometimes enjoying the higher wages gained in employment for which they