IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/devpol/v44y2026i3ne70073.html

Gender mainstreaming in Korean aid? Rethinking narratives about women's economic empowerment

Author

Listed:
  • Jae‐Eun Noh

Abstract

Motivation The rise of gender equality as a priority in international development, despite concerning signs such as backlash and waning commitment, has shaped Korean aid's adoption of gender‐equality policies and guidelines under the banner of gender mainstreaming. Despite its increased commitment to gender mainstreaming, Korea's gender‐related funding remains low, and its recent emphasis on women's economic empowerment raises questions about how this concept is understood and implemented, particularly given Korea's persistent economic gender gap. Purpose This study examines how women's economic empowerment is conceptualized and implemented within Korean aid projects, paying particular attention to the underlying assumptions that inform these approaches. Approach and Methods I searched the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) website for publicly available evaluation reports and identified 12 aid projects related to women's economic empowerment. Findings The analysis reveals four assumptions: gendered skills and roles, the link between nominal participation and gender equality, the instrumentality of women's economic empowerment, and the notion of market‐led growth. These assumptions reflect broader Korean discourses on gender and development and present barriers to a transformative approach to gender equality. Policy Implications This study demonstrates how domestic norms and sociopolitical dynamics shape aid policies and practices. It also highlights the need to interrogate embedded assumptions, rather than simply adopting and institutionalizing gender‐mainstreaming measures, and to engage with divergent understandings and practices of gender equality across international, national, or local contexts.

Suggested Citation

  • Jae‐Eun Noh, 2026. "Gender mainstreaming in Korean aid? Rethinking narratives about women's economic empowerment," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 44(3), May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:devpol:v:44:y:2026:i:3:n:e70073
    DOI: 10.1111/dpr.70073
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/dpr.70073
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/dpr.70073?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maria van der Harst & Dirk‐Jan Koch & Marieke van den Brink, 2023. "A review of the unintended gender effects of international development efforts," Public Administration & Development, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 43(4), pages 280-292, October.
    2. Fang‐Ying Su & Wan‐Ying Yang, 2023. "Gender‐focused or gender mainstreaming programmes? The gender dimension of international aid," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(7), pages 1874-1891, October.
    3. Acharya, Amitav, 2004. "How Ideas Spread: Whose Norms Matter? Norm Localization and Institutional Change in Asian Regionalism," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 58(2), pages 239-275, April.
    4. Caren Grown & Tony Addison & Finn Tarp, 2016. "Aid for Gender Equality and Development: Lessons and Challenges," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(3), pages 311-319, April.
    5. Louise Patterson & Vic Benuyenah, 2021. "The real losers during times of economic crisis: evidence of the Korean gender pay gap," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 42(7), pages 1238-1256, March.
    6. Trung Thanh Nguyen & Manh Hung Do, 2022. "Female rural–urban migrants and online marketplaces in emerging economies: Evidence from Thailand and Vietnam," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(3), pages 317-342, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chanyong Kim & Donghyun Kim, 2026. "Regional employment growth and role of diversity: focused on the global financial crisis in South Korea," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 75(2), pages 1-30, June.
    2. Crystal Whetstone & Luna K. C., 2023. "Disrupting the Saviour Politics in the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in the Global South: Grassroots Women Creating Gender Norms in Nepal and Sri Lanka," Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs, , vol. 10(1), pages 95-121, April.
    3. Sikina Jinnah & Abby Lindsay, 2016. "Diffusion Through Issue Linkage: Environmental Norms in US Trade Agreements," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 16(3), pages 41-61, August.
    4. Thanh‐Tung Nguyen & Trung Thanh Nguyen & Ulrike Grote, 2023. "Internet use and agricultural productivity in rural Vietnam," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 1309-1326, August.
    5. Tarp, Finn (ed.), 2017. "Growth, Structural Transformation, and Rural Change in Viet Nam: A Rising Dragon on the Move," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198796961.
    6. Ileana Daniela Serban, 2021. "The European Union: From a Complex Adaptive System to a Policy Interpreter," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(2), pages 388-403, March.
    7. Köllner, Patrick, 2012. ""Informelle Politik" und "informelle Institutionen": Konzeptionelle Grundlagen, analytische Zugänge und Herausforderungen für das Studium autoritärer und anderer politischer Herrschaftssysteme [„Informal Politics" and &quo," GIGA Working Papers 192, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    8. Carla Barqueiro & Kate Seaman & Katherine Teresa Towey, 2016. "Regional Organizations and Responsibility to Protect: Normative Reframing or Normative Change?," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 4(3), pages 37-49.
    9. Tanja A. Börzel & Thomas Risse, 2009. "Diffusing (Inter-) Regionalism - The EU as a Model of Regional Integration," KFG Working Papers p0007, Free University Berlin.
    10. Ellen Minkman, 2023. "Resolving impasses in policy translation: Shall we adjust the idea or the process?," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 41(2), pages 333-350, March.
    11. Holzscheiter, Anna & Gholiagha, Sassan & Liese, Andrea, 2022. "Advocacy Coalition Constellations and Norm Collisions: Insights from International Drug Control, Human Trafficking, and Child Labour," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 36(1), pages 25-48.
    12. Holbig, Heike, 2015. "The Plasticity of Regions: A Social Sciences–Cultural Studies Dialogue on Asia-Related Area Studies," GIGA Working Papers 267, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    13. Partha Gangopadhyay & Siddharth Jain & Agung Suwandaru, 2020. "What Drives Urbanisation in Modern Cambodia? Some Counter-Intuitive Findings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-17, December.
    14. Cuong Viet Nguyen & Finn Tarp, 2018. "Changing male perceptions of gender equality: Evidence from an experimental study," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2018-171, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    15. Sumner, Andrew & Klingebiel, Stephan, 2025. "Development cooperation at a tipping point: How, why and through what mechanisms do policy norms break?," IDOS Discussion Papers 29/2025, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    16. Katz-Lavigne, Sarah G., 2017. "The renegotiation window: Resource contract renegotiations in the mining industry in Africa from 2000 to 2013," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 22-30.
    17. Neil M. Dawson & Michael Mason & Janet A. Fisher & David Mujasi Mwayafu & Hari Dhungana & Heike Schroeder & Mark Zeitoun, 2018. "Norm Entrepreneurs Sidestep REDD+ in Pursuit of Just and Sustainable Forest Governance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-19, May.
    18. Sarah L. Young & Misty J. Grayer & Kimberly K. Wiley, 2024. "The new scarlet letter: Global challenges of motherhood in public administration programs and how we could solve them," Public Administration & Development, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 44(4), pages 342-357, October.
    19. Gressel, Christie M. & Rashed, Tarek & Maciuika, Laura Aswati & Sheshadri, Srividya & Coley, Christopher & Kongeseri, Sreeram & Bhavani, Rao R, 2020. "Vulnerability mapping: A conceptual framework towards a context-based approach to women’s empowerment," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 20(C).
    20. Muhammad Yaqoub & Ze Gao, 2025. "Cultural Exchange through Film: Analyzing Chinese Audiences’ Reception of Japanese and South Korean Cinema," SAGE Open, , vol. 15(3), pages 21582440251, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:devpol:v:44:y:2026:i:3:n:e70073. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/odioruk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.