Korea's 'female CEO', who has never been highlighted anywhere
Rewriting the History of Working Women

Kim Mi-seon, a research professor at Ewha Womans University and a doctor of women's studies, has published a new book, "The Birth of a Female President."
Kim Mi-seon, who reread Myeong-dong, previously referred to as a space for male writers in her previous work, “Myeong-dong Girl,” as a space for women, focuses on “female presidents,” who have been omitted from Korean economic history, in her new book, “The Birth of a Female President.”
For a long time, 'female CEOs' were easily excluded from the history of women's labor due to their position as CEO, and on the other hand, they were not properly discussed in Korean economic history due to the prejudice that CEOs of large corporations are usually male.
"The Birth of a Female President" is an attempt to unearth the traces of Korean female presidents who are subject to "double exclusion" and to rewrite the history of working women.
"The Birth of a Female President" is a monograph written by the author based on her doctoral dissertation, which won the Ewha Womans University Outstanding Dissertation Award, critically reexamining it and expanding the scope of the discussion.

Parts 1 and 2 of this book cover the evolution of female CEOs in Korea from the 1950s to the 1980s.
The author's gaze, which follows the rise of female CEOs and their emergence as independent business leaders, turns to contemporary young women in Part 3.
The struggles of a former female CEO, who had to occasionally give away her own earnings while balancing housework and work as a daughter, wife, mother, and daughter-in-law, resonate with the lives of modern young women who reject the gender wage gap and gender-based violence in the workplace and choose to start their own business.
"The Birth of a Female President" fills a gap in the history of Korean women's economics, while also offering a new perspective to young women living today.

It was considered shameful for a married woman to work because it meant that her husband was either incompetent in his economic role or poor, meaning that he was of a lower social class.
Also, socially, women who make money through business are portrayed as ‘problematic women’ (‘strong’, ‘intense’, ‘naive’…).
--- p.13

Lee Gyeong-sun started peddling in Daegu, carrying a tin bucket on her back.
He didn't even have money to buy a tin bucket, so he got a bucket with a hole in it and started selling the cabbages that were almost thrown away in the cabbage field, leaving out the good ones and picking out the bad ones for free.
--- p.60

The market was a man's space, a man's world.
So, the majority of women who were involved in business during the Korean War were women who had fled to South Korea.
Women in the North were doing business even before the Korean War.
Women in the northwestern regions, such as Hwanghae-do and Pyeongan-do, which were modernized early on with the idea of ​​enlightenment, engaged in business and left behind many valuable works.
Seeing women from such North Korean regions defect to South Korea and do business, South Korean women also began to actively participate in business.
--- p.63~64

Tailor shops, which can be considered representative examples of self-employment by women, were often located next to houses.
Such a spatial structure allowed female tailor shop owners to take care of their families while working.
--- p.78

It can be seen that the term 'female president' in the early 1970s changed to 'housewife manager' in the mid-1970s. The term 'female president' does not reveal marital status, whereas the term 'housewife manager' clearly indicates that the person being referred to is a married woman.
This term clearly indicates that a business woman is a married person, but at the same time, it has the character of encouraging and visualizing married women's entry into business.
--- p.123

In a male-dominated corporate organization, Jang Young-shin faced many difficulties in the early days of her tenure because she was a woman, despite her position as chairman.
In her autobiography, Chairman Jang Young-shin states that after taking office, there were cases where male employees moved to another company because they felt hurt by having to get autographs from a female chairman.
--- p.142

The emergence of female business leaders leading large corporations has garnered significant attention in Korean society.
The woman who took over the company from her husband emphasized that she overcame the 'limitations' of her gender and demonstrated her abilities as a 'woman in a male-dominated field.'
--- p.143

As state power and large-scale capital expanded, Korean capitalism was reorganized into a male-dominated economic structure, which resulted in large corporations such as conglomerates dominating the economy amidst collusion between politics and business, which was dominated by men.
--- p.178

The Park Chung-hee regime's logic for overcoming the economic crisis in the early 1970s was combined with the economic role of housewives, which led to the 'household account bookkeeping movement.'
Since the responsibility for consumption and savings lay with women, keeping household accounts was emphasized for housewives to control this.
--- p.179

Although the creative economy, or the logic that young people can earn money while exercising their creative abilities, is criticized for exploiting young people, their actions are also a practice of self-employment in that they create jobs and generate income for themselves.

--- p.194