Structure, culture, biographies and women's resistance: A study of labor strikes in the South Korean textile industry, 1976-1980

This study of the labor strikes that occurred at Dong-Il Textile Company in South Korea in the 1970s attempts to explore the causes of women's collective resistance. The central research question was why the factory women workers rebelled during a period of labor quiescence in Korea.;This qualitative study has found four explanatory threads which, when interwoven, explain the phenomenon of the strike. The first thread was the rapidly changing macro social context of Korean society in which women's lives were embedded. The second was the patriarchal cultural milieu that marginalized and degraded women. The third was the strong bonds and group solidarity the women formed as a result of similar biographical experiences. The final thread was the existence of an outside ally that enhanced the women's critical consciousness and helped them garner resources needed for resistance.;The women's biographies intersected with the rapid structural changes in Korean society. Poverty, patriarchal family structures and limited educational opportunities shaped their paths to the factory. The repressive labor regime, and gender/class based-social prejudice played out on the factory floor led to the women's oppression.;Despite the obstacles that women workers faced, the Dong-Il Textile women's resistance was sustained over a prolonged period of time. There existed countervailing forces against the systems of oppression. The women's similar biographical experiences were the precursors of their group action. Their communal living arrangements augmented their solidarity. A church group's assistance enhanced the women's critical consciousness. And the women were also empowered by act of resistance itself.;The Dong-Il Textile women rebelled because of the structural conduciveness of the rapidly changing Korean society, their marginalization in the capitalist-patriarchal social milieu, their group solidarity flowing from the similar experiences prior to becoming factory workers, and the availability of outside assistance to their collective resistance.