Great Speeches by Korean Students on the Topic of Feminism

To celebrate World Women’s Day on March 8^th, Y11 Korean students delivered speeches related to the feminism topic that they have chosen.

Delivering a speech is an interesting but challenging activity. As a part of our curriculum learning Henrik Ipsen’s “Doll’s House”, we started our unit by discussing the reason why feminism is not a comfortable topic in Korean society. After learning the gendered language and Korean traditional proverb used in our daily life, we explored the influence of gendered language on gender inequality.

Students then learnt about the famous feminist Simone de Beauvoir’s renowned statement, “Women are not born, they are made,” and dismantled two other well-known speeches delivered by Aram Son, a male author in Korean and Emma Watson’s UN gender equality speech, “He For She.” Using the important speech techniques from these two speakers, students researched interesting topics related to feminism and delivered their own speeches during Korean class.

(Jimin Jung delivering her speech)

(Jongwon Lee delivering his speech)

(Jaemin Jeong delivering his speech)

Here are five brave students’ reflections who volunteered to deliver their speech first.  

Jane Kim---On 8^th March International Women's Day, I gave a speech related to feminism, which allowed me to look at many perspectives. While preparing for the speech, I investigated feminism and listened to other classmates' speeches to learn about different perspectives on feminism. Furthermore, it allowed us to know how feminism has been transformed and what we need to do for gender equality.

Hayoung Kwon---I made my first speech on 8^th March. It was a time to learn and investigate feminism more deeply and to get to know the importance of feminism. I was able to learn about gender conflicts in Korean society by presenting my first speech and watching my classmates' speeches.

(Hayoung Kwon delivering her speech)

Youchan Jung---In the lesson, we shared our views about feminism through giving speeches. It was a great opportunity to share our own perspectives with others. We were able to enhance our understanding about feminism as well as the current problem of gender inequality. I think we have all achieved our goal of successfully using different speech techniques such as questionnaire, logos, and pathos.

Ayeong Kim---Feminism. I have always existed with the word ever since I was born. Before I started to learn how to speak, society categorised me as a vulnerable and delicate gender who would prefer pink clothes and beautifully crafted dolls. Besides whether I liked the conventions or not, I naturally followed the rules of society until I became 15. My world changed upside down when one of my friends introduced me to an interesting book about feminism. Some of my male classmates harshly criticised my friend for using female-hating speech because she used the word ‘feminism.’ After that, I used to hide inside a cave whenever I heard about ‘feminism.’ Thus, when I heard about the opportunity to give a speech, I was literally frustrated because of not only my speaking ability but also the controversial topic. The speech, however, allowed me to think about what I genuinely think about feminism, especially the hating speech used between two genders. Boys and girls or girls and boys, I dare say we should stop hating each gender and strive to achieve real gender equality. 

Yewon Sim---There is a word that took me a long time to know its true meaning. When I was a child who didn't even know how to write, I couldn’t even infer it. And as I grew up, I judged that it was a bad thing because of society’s view. When I became a middle school student, I tried to look like someone who had no interest in it. It wasn't until after this speech that I realized what it truly meant. Feminism, which has been thought to be a type of crime, and has encouraged various conflicts in society, finally has gotten rid of this false accusation from me. Through this speech, I learned how to look at the world from a new perspective, and I hope that one day, feminism will be free from the countless people who misunderstand it. 

(Yewon Sim delivering her speech)

You can check some exemplary speeches using the QR code below.

Jane Kim 

Inyeong Kim

Ayeong Kim

Youchan Jung

Seoyeon Park

At BSB Shunyi, we offer many language courses for students to study in our IGCE and IB Diploma Programme. 

Native Korean students in Year 10 and 11 have the opportunity to study the Pre-Diploma Korean First Language course. It is taught entirely in Korean and is great preparation for students who would like to take the IB Diploma Korean Language and Literature course.

Esther Kim

Secondary Korean Teacher, Head of Year 12 and 13