Gender Equity and Equality on Korean Student Scientists

Much research, including that by Koreans (e.g., Yoon & Kim, 1999; Mo, 1999), agrees on two major points relating to the inequitable and unequal condition of women in the scientific community: 1) the fact that the under-representation of women in the scientific community has been taken for granted for years (e.g., Kelly, 1992; Rathgeber, 1998), and 2) documenting women's lives has been largely excluded in women's studies (e.g., Sutton, 1998). The basis for the design of this study relates to the aforementioned observations; this study was designed to determine how women are socialized in the scientific community, in terms of gender equity and equality, and how women voice their situations. There are two major purposes for the current study: 1) exposing the voices of South Korean women, as compared to those of South Korean men, in the scientific community, and 2) understanding the under-representation of South Korean women in the science community, as well as in education fields, through social stereotypes and the socialization processes. This study addresses two major research questions: how do social stereotypes exist in terms of gender equity and equality in the South Korean scientific and educational fields, and how do these stereotypes influence women and men's socializations, in terms of gender equity and equality, in the South Korean scientific and educational fields? To investigate the research questions, this qualitative study utilizes a life history narrative approach in examining various theoretical perspectives, such as critical theory, post-structuralism, and postmodernism. Through the participants' perceptions and experiences in the scientific community and in South Korean society, this study finds gendered stereotypes, practices, and socializations in school, family, and the scientific community. These findings demonstrate asymmetric gendered structures in South Korea. Moreover, with the comparison among male and female participants, this study shows how they perceive and experience differently in school, family, and the scientific community. This study attempts to understand the South Korean scientific community as represented by four student scientists through social structures. Education appears to function significantly as an hegemonic power in conveying legitimating ideologies. This process reproduces man-centered social structures, especially in the scientific community. This suggests that to emancipate women's under-representations in the scientific community, educational administrators and teachers should carefully consider gendered practices, stereotypes, and socialization in science classes. Pursuant to the needs of South Korean women, in relation to their under-representation in the scientific community, this study demonstrates the different perceptions of four South Koreans, two women and two men, relating to the man-centeredness of the scientific community. Employing various applications of sociological theories to explain women's under-representations in the South Korean scientific community, this study provides suggestions that may prove useful in disassembling the inequitable gender structures. In this study, there have been significant findings of educative authenticity criteria (Guba & Lincoln, 1989) that stimulate the needs of future studies on gender, especially women in the scientific community in general and, more specifically, in South Korea. These findings suggest the importance of active involvement by women participants to enhance a more detailed examination, by women's studies, of the scientific community.