Abstract

The author proposes and employs the Avalanche Perspective in analysing the entry of women into the Korean judiciary from the first pioneers in 1952 to the present. Starting from a general atmospheric warming trend towards women in postwar Korea, there developed instability in the status quo, then a breakthrough that led to a cascade of women participating in the legal profession. Although cultural resistance and political obstacles remained to be overcome, this quantitative expansion ultimately led to a greater acceptance of women’s participation in the judicial arena. Significant judicial changes that furthered the causes of women in contemporary Korea were coincident with women being members of the judiciary. The quantitative changes of the past fifty-six years opened the possibility of qualitative progress for women in the Korean judiciary. The Avalanche Perspective as applied to the judiciary in Korea, provides an understanding of the forces at work that have had a profound effect upon the place of women in the new cultural and political reality of the Korean people