by Hyun Ja Kim, President
Korea Women's Political Caucus

     The local election which took place last June in Korea made us realize once again the strong barriers that stand in the way of women's participation in politics. The election result was very disappointing for women. Women candidates won about 2.3% of seats which is no better than the previous elections.
     This miserable result was really disappointing to us because women's groups had worked much harder than before for training and education of women candidates, and all the political parties including the ruling party had promised to nominate women at least 30% of the total candidates. This promise was not kept and only about 3% of women got party nomination and received very little support from their parties during the campaign.
     We can cite many reasons for this failure; reluctance of women to run for office and the difficulty in getting nomination from major parties, shortage of financial resources, male-dominated political atmosphere and negative image of politics and politicians, etc.
     Since the last election, there is a growing interest among women's groups as well as some party members in the Proportional Representation election system. In the single-member district system, it is more difficult for women to win, because voters tend to choose a male candidate if they are to select only one person. This system inevitably intensify competition among the candidates often violating election law such as vote-buying and black mailing. The single seat district is the "winner-take-all" system where votes going to a losing candidate are wastes, even if that candidate gets 49.9% of the vote. This leaves significant blocs of voters unrepresented, often resulting in the low voter turn-out.
     Proportional representation is based on the democratic principle that any organized group of like-minded voters should win legislative seats in proportion to its share of the popular vote. Most of the established democracies in the world use some form of PR system. These countries have greater voter turn-out (typically 70-90%) because there are more choices for voters - including more women and minorities elected. (40% women of Sweden, 39% in Norway, 33% in Finland and Denmark)
     In contrast, the single member district countries show much lower percentage of women representatives; for example, only 12% in the USA, and 3% in Korea. (Out of 3%, only 1% were directly elected from their districts after fierce competition.)
     PR elections are conducted in multi-seat districts rather than single-member districts. For Example, instead of electing 10 representatives from 10 single districts, 10 could be elected in one larger district. Representatives would be elected in proportion to the number of votes their party received. If a party won 20% of the popular vote it would win 2 of 10 seats, 50% of the popular vote would win 5, and so on.
     Under PR, a greater portion of the population elects the representatives, women and other under-represented groups have a better chance of winning seats. PR also boosts voter turnout by giving voters a greater chance of representation and more candidate choices.
     It is true that many countries using PR combine it with a parliamentary governmental system. But PR is not the same as a parliamentary system. A parliamentary system is a type of governmental system, while PR is a type of voting/electoral system. PR can be combined with the Presidential system.
     According to most academic research, proportional representation results in the election of more women than winner-take-all systems. Statistics from Germany and New Zealand, where mixed electoral systems are used, indicate that greater numbers of women are elected in multi-seat rather than single-seat districts. In Germany, 1994 elections, women earned 39% of the PR seats, but only 13% of the single member districts seats. In New Zealand 1996 elections, women earned 45% of the PR seats, but only 15% of the single member districts. These numbers indicate that women triple their chances of election with PR. Sweden, with a full PR system of election, ranks first with forty percent women legislators.
     The evidence is compelling that single-seat legislative districts hurt women. Our political parties still do not put women candidates forward as often as men, and women themselves are hesitant to run. Women candidates face the hurdle of competing with men who have stronger bases in terms of financial and social connections. Many women often choose not to run because the process is so daunting.
     Under PR, parties sponsor several candidates in a district, so including a woman or two in the mix is not the huge gamble it apparently is in a single member race. Voters are also more likely to spend their votes on women if they are voting for a group of candidates for an office rather than just one.
     The trend in the world is toward proportional representation and away from the "winner-take-all" system. Recently, the United Kingdom chose PR to elect representatives to the European Parliament. New Zealand, Japan, Russia and Mexico adopted a form of PR also. Significantly, all of the former communist countries, including Russia, have chosen to model their emerging democracies on proportional representation. They adopted this system, because it is a fairer, more flexible, more modern electoral system than the antiquated single-member district.

     In Korea, women's groups lobbied for a quota system for women candidates asking different parties to nominate 30% nomination of women. This has not been successful, and gave an impression that women were asking for a special favour, and therefore, unconstitutional.
     If we use PR, the quota will be decided within the parties, and parties are very likely to place higher proportion of women in the party list in order to solicit women voters. Other minority groups such as farmers, trade union leaders will receive their share also. Another advantage will be that we can get rid of the regionalism which is hindering the sound development of politics in Korea.
     From our past experience, we can say that there is a limit to the present efforts that are being made by women's groups for the increase of women representatives in the legislative bodies. It is my firm belief that only the change of the election law into Proportional Representation can significantly increase the women's ratio. It is not an easy task, as incumbents will resist to the change.
     Recently several women's groups formed a "Women's Political Network". The network has decided to start a campaign for the change of the election law toward Proportional Representation and multi-members district system.