South Korea's president-elect Park Geun-Hye is joining a long list of Asian women whose rise to power has, to varying degrees, been founded on the political legacy of a male sibling, father or husband.
Park, who will become the country's first female president in February after her historic election win on Wednesday, is the daughter of former military ruler Park Chung-Hee.
Despite carving out an independent political career since winning a national assembly seat in 1998, Park is, for many South Koreans, still largely defined in relation to her father and his authoritarian 1961-79 rule.
The same is true of a number of prominent Asian women leaders -- past and present -- who took office or came to prominence under a male shadow and then, in some cases, went on to create major political legacies of their own.
The list includes Myanmar's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, India's Indira Gandhi, Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto, Corazon Aquino of the Philippines and the current Thai prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra.
As with Park, their elevation to high office was often seen as a sign of female empowerment in Asia's largely male-dominated politics but the reality is "far more complex," according to former Asia Society president Vishakha N. Desai.
Read more at Bangkok Post, published 21 December 2012.
South Korea's president-elect Park Geun-Hye is joining a long list of Asian women whose rise to power has, to varying degrees, been founded on the political legacy of a male sibling, father or husband.
Park, who will become the country's first female president in February after her historic election win on Wednesday, is the daughter of former military ruler Park Chung-Hee.
Despite carving out an independent political career since winning a national assembly seat in 1998, Park is, for many South Koreans, still largely defined in relation to her father and his authoritarian 1961-79 rule.
The same is true of a number of prominent Asian women leaders -- past and present -- who took office or came to prominence under a male shadow and then, in some cases, went on to create major political legacies of their own.
The list includes Myanmar's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, India's Indira Gandhi, Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto, Corazon Aquino of the Philippines and the current Thai prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra.
As with Park, their elevation to high office was often seen as a sign of female empowerment in Asia's largely male-dominated politics but the reality is "far more complex," according to former Asia Society president Vishakha N. Desai.
Read more at Bangkok Post, published 21 December 2012.