Women's movement and the politics of framing: The construction of anti-domestic violence legislation in South Korea

SynopsisThis article discusses the emergence of the campaign to construct and pass anti-domestic violence legislation in South Korea. It introduces aspects of the political and cultural context and analyzes choices and negotiations involved in deciding on an effective strategy to support legislation—a framing strategy. The framing strategy was intended to transform and subvert problematic cultural concepts that deemed wife abuse a private, trivial and even benign aspect of married life. While the article demonstrates that the framing played a crucial role in arousing government response to the issue of violence against women, it also shows some unanticipated consequences that resulted from the agreed upon frame and from the institutionalization of responsibilities for implementing the legislation. By exploring feminist movement against domestic violence in the local context, the article suggests that success of the anti-domestic violence legislation movement and unintended consequences of state intervention in domestic violence can be relatively discussed and anticipated.