Born: 14 November 1924, South Korea
Died: 4 October 2020
Country most active: South Korea
Also known as: 이효재
The following bio was written by Emma Rosen, author of On This Day She Made History: 366 Days With Women Who Shaped the World and This Day In Human Ingenuity & Discovery: 366 Days of Scientific Milestones with Women in the Spotlight, and has been republished with permission.
Lee Hyo-jae (이효재) was a prominent South Korean sociologist and feminist scholar. She served as a sociology professor at Ewha Womans University and as president of the Korean Federation of Women’s Organizations. Her work included formulating theories in Korean women’s studies and founding women’s organizations. She also played a key role in advocating for the abolition of the comfort women system and co-chaired the Korean Council for Military Sexual Slavery Issues.
Lee advocated for change in South Korea, challenging patriarchal customs like male-headed households and inheritance discrimination against women. She pushed for gender quotas in employment and equal wages for men and women.
Her efforts led to ending the patriarchal naming system, allowing the use of both parents’ surnames. She also helped implement a rule requiring half of the candidates for South Korea’s National Assembly to be women.
In 1980, she was dismissed from her job as an anti-establishment intellectual. After retiring in 1990, she returned to Jinhae, Gyeongsangnam-do, and engaged in community activism as the director of the Social Welfare Research Institute and chairwoman of the Jinhae Children’s Library operation committee.
In 1996, she declined the National Medal of Merit, the Pomegranate Medal, due to controversy over her political affiliations. On April 17, 2012, she was honored with the grand prize at the 10th Korean Women Leaders Award by the Korea YWCA Association.