The scandal enveloping South Korean President Park Geun-hye over her relationship with Choi Soon-sil, a controversial confidante, is a big setback for the country's women, who are struggling to assert influence in an economy that faces slowing exports, stagnant consumption and a rapidly aging population.
Yet the solutions to many of South Korea's economic challenges may lie in its highly underutilized female population. Witness the proposals by neighboring Japan and its Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a key tenet of whose "Abenomics" agenda is to revitalize the sagging domestic economy, in part through greater female participation in the workforce.
