The 1975 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership

CITATION for Lee Tai-Young

Ramon Magsaysay Award Presentation Ceremonies
31 August 1975, Manila, Philippines

Subservience by women was their accepted lot in life throughout most of Korean history. The doctrine of Three Obediences—to father in childhood, to the husband after marriage and to sons in old age—prevailed to the end of the Yi Dynasty, which lasted from 1392 to 1910. This traditional social bondage was only slightly modified during the ensuing 35 years of Japanese colonial administration.

The faith taught by Christian missionaries, allowed into the Hermit Kingdom late in the 19th century, and the schools they founded challenged old Confucian mores and the authoritarian ordering of life. From this crucible came women who had learned to work together in schools and churches and who had joined prominently in the Korean Independence Declaration Movement of March 1919. Although the Movement was suppressed by the Japanese military, the ferment continued. With Allied liberation in August 1945, hitherto inhibited talents of Korean women blossomed.

Despite the Korean War that devastated much of their country, women have continued to mobilize public support for modernizing their society. The Constitution reflects their ideas and determination. No longer are girls given during childhood in arranged marriages. Widows now can remarry. Property rights, divorce, access to schooling and entry into the professions all have come with a rush, mostly in the last three decades.

Dr. TAI-YOUNG LEE—Mrs. Y. H. CHYUNG in private life—is both a product of this formative period for Korea's women and one of its architects. Born in 1914 into a family stirred by liberalizing influences, she was able to attend the new schools for girls, graduating in home economics from Ehwa Womans University in 1936. During the five years her husband was imprisoned by the Japanese, she supported their family as a seamstress and a teacher. Liberation afforded her the opportunity to study law at Seoul National University where she earned her degree at the age of 38 while raising four children; she later earned her doctorate there.

The first woman in Korea to become a lawyer and a judge, Dr. LEE naturally came to lead in achieving women's rights. Since 1956 she has operated a private non-profit Legal Aid Center providing free legal counsel in particular to illiterates and poor women. In 1963 her years of persistent persuasion and of channeling the concern of women's groups, resulted in enactment of the Law Concerning Judgments of Family Affairs and establishment of the implementing Seoul Family Court. For residents of the capital city and environs, the Court seeks, through mediation, rational solutions to complaints before passing any judgments.

From her school days, amidst all the vicissitudes that have beset her land, Dr. LEE has sustained an unwaveringly purposeful commitment to enabling Korean women to become full citizens. While championing their freedom from ancient thralldom and pursuing her profession, she has remained a conscientious wife and mother and inspiration for the womanhood of her country.

In electing TAI YOUNG LEE to receive the 1975 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership, the Board of Trustees recognizes her effective service to the cause of equal juridical rights for the liberation of Korean women.