Lee Jung-ok (sociologist)

Lee Jung-ok (Korean: 이정옥; Hanja: 李貞玉; born 1955) is a South Korean professor of sociology at Catholic University of Daegu currently serving as Minister of Gender Equality and Family[1] since her appointment by President Moon Jae-in in September 2019.

Lee Jung-ok
이정옥
Minister of Gender Equality and Family
Assumed office
9 September 2019
PresidentMoon Jae-in
Prime MinisterLee Nak-yeon
Chung Sye-kyun
Preceded byJin Sun-mee
Personal details
Born1955
Jeonju, South Korea
Political partyindependent
Alma materSeoul National University
This is a Korean name; the family name is Lee.

Lee has been active in academia, government and civil societies - both domestic and international.

From 1986 Lee taught sociology at Hyosung Women's College until 1992 when she transferred to its successor, Catholic University of Daegu, as an associate professor of sociology.[2] Since then she took multiple roles in her university and later promoted to professor. From 2011 she is a dean of Graduate School of Social Economy and a director of Social Sciences Research Institute.[3] From 2016 to 2018 she was a dean of College of Social Sciences and its School of Sociology.[2] She was also previously a visiting scholar at Waseda University and Harvard University.

She is currently a director of Korean Association of Women's Studies as well as a senior advisor and ex-president of the Korean Association of NGO Studies.

Before appointed to Minister, Lee was the co-chair of Gender Equality Committee of Ministry of National Defense, co-president of Women's Forum for Peace & Diplomacy and chair of International Cooperation Committee of Korea Democracy Foundation. She was previously a member and chair of Public Interest Activity Promotion (Nonprofit organization) Committee of Seoul Metropolitan Government.

Moreover, Lee is a director of Transparency International Korea from February 2019. From 1995 to 1999 she led the International Human Rights Centre of People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy as its assistant director and later director. In 1999 Lee became the co-president of Korean House for International Solidarity.[2]

Furthermore, Lee is currently a board member of Democracy International based in Cologne[4] and an international fellow of Asia Regional Exchange for New Alternatives based in Hong Kong.[5]

Lee graduated from Seoul National University with three degrees: bachelor in English Education and master and doctorate in sociology.[2]

References
  1. "Moon reshuffles cabinet to push forward policies". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 2019-08-10.
  2. 김보람 (2019-08-09). "(profile) Sociology expert tapped as gender minister". Yonhap News Agency. Retrieved 2019-08-10.
  3. "이정옥 교수 소개" [Professor Lee Jung-ok profile] (in Korean).
  4. "Board". Democracy International e.V. 2013-04-25. Retrieved 2019-08-10.
  5. "ARENA Fellows | ARENA". arena-council.org. Retrieved 2019-08-10.
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