This talk examines a paradox in democratic representation: legislators who devote greater attention to women’s issues may strengthen substantive representation while simultaneously weakening their own prospects for political survival. Drawing on network and interview analysis from South Korea and Taiwan, the talk shows how women’s-issue specialization can limit access to career-relevant political networks, where political authority and opportunities for advancement remain concentrated.     

 

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Jaemin Shim is Assistant Professor at the Department of Government and International Studies at Hong Kong Baptist University. Prior to this position, he was a Korea-EU Programme Postdoctoral Fellow at the Freie Universität Berlin, a Fritz Thyssen Research Fellow at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA), and a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Tokyo. His primary research interests lie in democratic representation, comparative welfare states, gender, and legislative politics. He holds a MPhil and a DPhil in politics at the University of Oxford, and completed a B.A. in public administration from Korea University.

This talk is co-organised by the International Relations/Political Science Department and the Gender Centre.