PRODUCTIVITY, MILITANCY, AND FEMININITY - GENDERED IMAGES OF SOUTH-KOREAN WOMEN FACTORY-WORKERS

Concerned with issues of productivity, femininity and militancy, this paper examines labor force participation of women in the newly industr ialized scenario of South Korea. The roles of women have been transfor med as the country has undergone industrial transformation. The cheap labor of women has been utilized in this process, especially in factor ies that have been part of Korea's export-led development program. Dat a ate drawn from anthropological fieldwork, historical sources, autobi ography, and other publications to analyze the ways in which different actors - the state, corporate management, labor organizers and women workers - manipulate and alter the meaning of ''femininity'' of women factory workers.