Research

Why are some male legislators more resistant to women's issues than others? This paper focuses on men and their personal backgrounds. I argue that military service—an intensive socialization experience during a formative period—fosters masculine norms and a form of protective masculinity that weakens male legislators' support for women's issues. These negative effects are stronger for gender equality issues than for those concerning violence against women and are conditioned by party ideology, being more pronounced among liberals. I test these arguments in the context of South Korea, which operates a strict conscription system within a relatively homogeneous society in terms of ethnicity and race, thereby reducing selection bias. Using an original dataset on the military backgrounds of South Korean National Assembly members, I analyze roll-call votes related to women's issues. The findings show that male legislators with military experience are more likely to oppose women's issues, particularly gender equality bills. The effects are especially strong among active-service members in liberal parties.

How do women insurgents develop agency in insurgent organizations filled with men with guns? Can they make a difference in reducing wartime sexual violence? Contrary to the existing understanding that women insurgents merely conform to what the insurgent organization dictates, we argue that the women insurgent leadership can make a difference in producing the patterns of wartime sexual violence, albeit under limited circumstances. Specifically, we argue that bottom-up, community-based women insurgent leadership can generate social pressure to keep the level of sexual violence low. In contrast, the top-level women leadership may not influence the level of sexual violence, mainly due to the pressure to conform to strategic incentives of armed groups. With the new Women Insurgent Leadership (WIL) data for the 140 insurgent organizations between 1998 and 2012, we analyze the relationship between different types of women insurgent leadership and sexual violence patterns. We find the evidence of women insurgent leadership making difference in the outcome of sexual violence under certain conditions. The results have implications for the reduction of sexual violence in conflict zones.

Survivors of wartime sexual violence face an extreme level of trauma and social obstacles in seeking justice and end up marginalized from the transitional justice process, being ‘forgotten’ victims of war. It takes more time, even decades, to speak up and seek justice. How are survivors of wartime sexual violence in the past represented? We explore how female representatives in the political institution serve as the agents representing survivors’ voices. We argue that female legislators are more likely to talk about the historical wartime sexual violence and support bills than their male colleagues. We test the proposed argument with the case of the ‘comfort women’ issue in South Korea. Using the congressional speech and bill data of the South Korean National Assembly between 2012 and 2022, we find that female legislators are the key actors behind the representation of comfort women. The research implies the key role these female agents serve in installing gender justice in a longer time frame and the importance of women’s representation in the post-conflict period.

This paper examines how public demand and institutional contexts shape the substantive representation of LGBTQ+ populations across Europe. I argue that while positive social constructions of LGBTQ+ populations are a necessary condition for the advances of LGBTQ+ rights, issue salience can facilitate LGBTQ+ rights only if public opinion on LGBTQ+ is positive. Furthermore, I assert that translating social constructions of LGBTQ+ populations into policy outputs is mediated by the proportionality of electoral systems. I analyze policy scores, public attitudes, and online interest concerning LGBTQ+ topics. I find that positive social constructions are correlated with more inclusive LGBTQ+ rights across countries, and the positive impact of issue salience on LGBTQ+ rights is observed only in countries with positive social constructions. Additionally, the analysis of electoral systems provides mixed evidence regarding the role of proportionality.

Numerous studies demonstrate that increasing women's political empowerment influences policy outcomes. However, the economic consequences of expanding women's political representation remain underexplored. This study examines whether greater political empowerment for women reduces earnings discrimination between women and men—a persistent challenge in labor market gender inequality. We argue that, on average, enhancing descriptive representation promotes wage equality. The presence of women in politics contributes to this outcome in two ways: first, by advancing legislation that protects women in the labor market (substantive representation effect); and second, by inspiring more women to pursue their career goals and signaling to society that women are equally competent in positions of authority (symbolic representation effect). Drawing on data from 17 advanced democratic countries between 1997 and 2021, our findings support this argument. This study suggests that women’s political power can mitigate labor market inequality between men and women. Our mechanism test using mediation analysis further reveals that the symbolic representation effect plays a more consistent role in explaining this relationship than the substantive effect.

Radical right populist (RRP) parties are predominantly represented and supported by men, yet their antifeminist rhetoric has become increasingly explicit. When do radical right populist parties politicize anti-feminism? I present a novel argument on anti-feminism of RRP politics: RRP parties are more likely to promote anti-feminism in countries with (1) high levels of women's empowerment in the labor market and (2) significant economic transitions—such as globalization and automation—to mobilize low-income male voters. Economic insecurity can lead low-income men to resist gender equality due to concerns about reduced opportunities for men resulting from women's empowerment, and RRP parties seek to mobilize this demographic by advancing anti-feminist agendas. The analysis of RRPs across European countries from 1999 to 2024 supports the relationship between women's socioeconomic empowerment and the promotion of anti-feminism.