AP
news
July
4, 2000
South
Korea - On weekdays, women in this west coast village tend vegetable
patches and pluck shellfish on the beach. Some weekends, they gather at a
village hall to shout anti-U.S. slogans.
Sitting on old newspapers
and fanning themselves, they epitomize a well-known figure in South Korean
society, the brash middle-aged or older woman who handles household
duties.
Called "ajuma''
in Korean, they have found an ally in leftist student activists who are
demanding the closure of a U.S. Air Force bombing range near Maehyang-ri.
The villagers say the range is noisy and dangerous.
Most of the ajuma have
permed hairdos and wear colorful, often mismatched shirts and trousers.
Some have tattooed eyebrows, a fashion craze that is widespread even in
rural areas.
Their periodic rallies
often take on the atmosphere of a picnic. But the ajuma also chant
slogans, following the lead of militant activists from Seoul and other
cities who have turned the range protests into a broader demand for the
withdrawal of U.S. troops from South Korea.
Women's groups have
become more active in recent years in South Korea's male-dominated
society. Women have a bigger role in non-governmental organizations and
participate more in protest rallies.
In one pushing match
involving dozens of ajuma and police guarding the range in Maehyang-ri, an
older woman lost her footwear and shouted: "My shoe! My shoe!''
One young policeman
with a helmet and shield retrieved her shoe and handed it to her over the
shoulder of a colleague. She snatched it angrily, put it back on, and
began pushing the policemen again.
A couple of giggling
women even brought a bucket of human excrement to throw at the police, but
decided against it.
Other ajuma sat in the
dirt, eating cucumbers and leaning on the plastic shields of riot police
who stood between the villagers and the barbed-wire fence of the bombing
range.
Ajuma, who often
handle their family's financial matters, have been the victim of
stereotypes. Many people perceive them as feisty and aggressive, for
example running to grab empty seats on buses and subway cars.
They are said to be
indifferent to politics and most vulnerable to the old tradition of
vote-buying in elections, but become very active and persistent members of
political movements when their families are involved.
Last year, seven
women's studies professors at Seoul's Sookmyung Women's University
published a book about the ajuma. The title? "The Third Gender.''
