[Column] Trendy gender hole checks Korea’s democracy

(Getty Photographs Financial institution)

By Hannes Mosler, professor of Korean politics and society on the College of Duisburg-Essen

Amongst democratic nations, South Korea has been experiencing an unprecedented acceleration within the polarization of votingbehavior by gender. This phenomenon is named the “fashionable gender hole”: the systematic divergence in political preferences between women and men. 

In Korea, this disparity got here into sharp focus round 2020, significantly amongst younger individuals of their 20s and early 30s. Within the 2025 Korean presidential election, 74.1% of male voters aged 18-29 solid their ballots for the candidates within the conservative camp (Kim Moon-soo and Lee Jun-seok), whereas solely 35.8% of girls in the identical age group voted for these candidates. Conversely, whereas 58.1% of younger ladies voted for Democratic Get together candidate Lee Jae Myung, solely 24.0% of younger males did so. 

Indicators of this gender hole had already appeared within the 2020 normal election and the 2022 presidential election, however between 2020 and 2025, the disparity exploded to excessive ranges each domestically and internationally.

Such polarization entrenches gender as a core political id and undermines democracy’s foundations. Younger ladies are inclined to strategy politics as a matter of securing security and equality, whereas a major variety of younger males emphasize meritocracy and particular person accountability, perceiving equality-advancing insurance policies as unfair. 

As political perceptions diverge alongside gender strains, foundations constructed on compromise and mutual acceptance crumble, reworking democracy right into a zero-sum competitors. Far-right forces, particularly, intentionally amplify fashionable gender gaps to consolidate their help base. Consequently, democracy dangers turning into a fragile system supported or challenged relying on one’s gender.

Nonetheless, this isn’t solely a Korean subject. Even in Germany, with its sturdy welfare state, custom of consensus democracy, and lengthy historical past of gender equality insurance policies, the trendy gender hole has considerably widened in recent times.

Within the 2025 German federal election, 35% of girls beneath 25 selected the democratic socialist occasion Die Linke, also referred to as the Left Get together, whereas solely 16% of males in the identical age group did so. Conversely, 27% of younger males supported the right-wing populist Various for Germany, in distinction to solely 15% of younger ladies. This too is among the most excessive gender gaps in historical past. It demonstrates that even institutionally steady democracies usually are not proof against such polarization.

There are frequent causes for this phenomenon in each international locations. Degree of schooling is a key variable. In the present day, younger ladies on common attain larger ranges of schooling than younger males and have a tendency to favor progressive events extra strongly. 

The Tocqueville impact additionally performs a task right here. Objectively, gender inequality has been alleviated in comparison with the previous, but younger ladies understand the remaining disparities extra acutely. Then again, many younger males really feel they’ve turn out to be structurally deprived. 

Add to this the context of the digital public sphere which amplifies these perceptual variations. Within the typically gender-segregated discussions which can be going down, discontent and frustration are simply strengthened. An unstable labor market, precarious future prospects, and hovering housing prices additionally gasoline the temptation to hunt simplistic political explanations.

Along with these components, Korea has distinctive parts that make gender disparities much more explosive. The burden of obligatory army service is distributed unequally in observe, but it has not been addressed constructively in politics. A powerful presidential system, a majority-representation electoral system, and a celebration cartel construction push conflicts right into a friend-or-foe dynamic, intensifying confrontation reasonably than fostering negotiation. Furthermore, the absence of a welfare state system that gives younger individuals adequate protections means younger individuals should face materials insecurity head-on. Consequently, social points are reworked into cultural and gender conflicts.

The fashionable gender hole is just not a short lived phenomenon. It’s a structural risk to democratic legitimacy. Korea now stands at a crossroads. Will this battle solidify right into a everlasting political entrance, or can or not it’s politically addressed earlier than it turns into extra deeply entrenched?

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