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Lee Tai-young (Korean: 이태영; 10 August 1914 – 16 December 1998), also spelled Yi T'ai Yǒng, was Korea's first female lawyer . She was also the founder of the country's first legal aide centre. She fought for women's rights all through her career. Her often mentioned refrain was, "No society can or will prosper without the cooperation of women." Her dedication to law also got her the epithet "the woman judge."

Certain resources have misidentified Lee as the first female judge in Korea's history. The first Korean woman to become a judge was Hwang Yun-suk in 1954. While Lee had sought a judicial appointment around 1954, she was denied a judgeship due to political reasons. She eventually became a judge later in her legal career.

Early years

Lee Tai-young was born on 10 August 1914 in Pukjin, Unsan County, Korea, Empire of Japan (now in North Korea). She was a third-generation Methodist. Her father was a gold miner; her mother was named Kim Heung-Won. Most girl's parents taught girls how to work, but her parents thought that girls need to study, so she went to school with other boys. Her maternal grandfather founded the Methodist Church in Lee's hometown. After completing school in Pukjin, she studied at Chung Eui Girls' High School in Pyongyang. She attended Ewha Womans University, graduating with a bachelor's degree in home economics before marrying the Methodist minister, Yil Hyung Chyung (who had studied in America), in 1936. He was suspected of being a spy for the United States in the 1940s and was imprisoned as "anti-Japanese". He later became the Minister of Foreign Affairs of South Korea. Tai-young lived in a patriarchal society (as was the tradition in Korea) and she had four children, three daughters and a son.

Career

Initially, when she came to Seoul to study at Ewha Womans University, her wish was to become a lawyer. However, her husband was imprisoned for sedition in the 1940s by the Japanese colonial government. Lee then had to work as a school teacher and radio singer, and took in sewing and washing in the early 1940s to maintain her family. After World War II, encouraged by her husband, she continued her studies. In 1946, she became the first woman to enter Seoul National University, earning her law degree three years later. In 1957, after the Korean War she opened a law practice, Women's Legal Counseling Center, which provided services to poor women. In 1952, she was the first woman to pass the National Judicial Examination.

Lee and her husband participated in the 1976 Myongdong Declaration [ko], which called for the return of civil liberties to South Korean citizens. Considered an enemy of President Park Chung Hee because of her political views, she was arrested, receiving in 1977 a three-year suspended sentence, a loss of civil liberties, and an automatic disbarment for ten years. Her law practice became the Korea Legal Aid Center for Family Relations, serving more than 10,000 clients each year.

There are two English-language biographies of Lee, David Finkelstein's Korea's 'Quiet' Revolutionary: A Profile of Lee Tai-young (1979) and Sonia Reid Strawn's Where There is No Path: Lee Tai-Young, Her Story (1988).

Publications

She wrote 15 books on issues concerning women and her first book published in 1957 was titled Divorce System in Korea. In 1972, she published Commonsense in Law for Women. Her other notable books are The Woman of North Korea and Born a Woman. She translated Eleanor Roosevelt's book On My Own into the Korean language. She published her memoirs in 1984 under the title Dipping the Han River out with a Gourd.

Awards

In 1975, she was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award (also known as the Asian Peace Prize) for Community Leadership by the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation with the citation " for effective service to the cause of equal judicial rights for liberation of Korean Women." Three years later, she received the international legal aid award of the International Legal Aid Association. Some of the other awards that she received were the World Methodist Peace Award in 1984, and in 1981 the Honorary Doctorate in Law from the Drew University in Madison, NJ. In 1971 she won the conference award when she participated in the World Peace Though Law Conference held in Belgrade.

See also

• First women lawyers around the world

References

1. ^ "The 1975 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership:Biography of Lee Tai-Young". Official website of Magsaysay Award Organization. Archived from the original on 11 March 2008. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
2. Steinberg, David I. (2002). Stone mirror: reflections on contemporary Korea. EastBridge. p. 86. ISBN 978-1-891936-20-3. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
3. ^ Encyclopedia of Women Social Reformers: A-L-v. 2. M-Z. ABC-CLIO. 2001. pp. 391–. ISBN 978-1-57607-101-4. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
4. ^ Behnke, Alison (2005). North Korea in Pictures. Twenty-First Century Books. p. 71. ISBN 978-0-8225-1908-9. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
5. Miyazawa, Setsuo; Ji, Weidong; Fukurai, Hiroshi; Chan, Kay-Wah; Vanhullebusch, Matthias (2015-03-13). East Asia's Renewed Respect for the Rule of Law in the 21st Century: The Future of Legal and Judicial Landscapes in East Asia. Hotei Publishing. ISBN 9789004274204.
6. 이, 종하 (2013-10-08). 4월의 모든 역사 - 한국사 (in Korean). 디오네. ISBN 9788998241759.
7. Other sources stated that Lee Tai-young was the first female judge in Korea's history. While Lee sought a judicial appointment around 1954, she was denied a judgeship due to political reasons.
8. Miyazawa, Setsuo; Ji, Weidong; Fukurai, Hiroshi; Chan, Kay-Wah; Vanhullebusch, Matthias (2015-03-13). East Asia's Renewed Respect for the Rule of Law in the 21st Century: The Future of Legal and Judicial Landscapes in East Asia. Hotei Publishing. ISBN 9789004274204.
9. Schultz, Ulrike; Shaw, Gisela (2003). Women in the world's legal professions. Hart Publishing. pp. 452–. ISBN 978-1-84113-319-5. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
10. ^ Wayne, Tiffany K. (31 October 2011). Feminist Writings from Ancient Times to the Modern World: A Global Sourcebook and History: A Global Sourcebook and History. ABC-CLIO. p. 632. ISBN 978-0-313-34581-4. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
11. United States Treaties and Other International Agreements. Vol. 12 (Part 1 of 3 ed.). Department of State. 1961. p. 277. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
12. ^ Morgan, Robin (1996). Sisterhood is Global: The International Women's Movement Anthology. Feminist Press at CUNY. pp. 403–. ISBN 978-1-55861-160-3. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
13. ^ American Bar Association (December 1978). "ABA Journal". American Bar Association Journal. American Bar Association: 1812. ISSN 0747-0088. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
14. "The 1975 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership". Manila, Philippines. 31 August 1975. Archived from the original on 3 May 2012. Retrieved 27 April 2013.

• 1914 births
• 1998 deaths
• People from Unsan County
• Ewha Womans University alumni
• Seoul National University School of Law alumni
• 20th-century South Korean judges
• South Korean women lawyers
• South Korean women judges
• 20th-century women lawyers
• Organization founders
• 20th-century women judges
• South Korean people of North Korean origin