‘Taekwondo Women’: Exhibition Traces Four Decades of Korean Women’s Progress in the Sport

A new exhibition in Muju will tell the story of Korean women who helped turn taekwondo from a male-dominated martial art into a sport practiced by people of all ages and genders.

The Taekwondo Promotion Foundation will stage “Taekwondo Women” at the National Taekwondo Museum’s special exhibition hall in Taekwondowon, North Jeolla Province, from the first of next month through Dec. 27. The exhibition covers four decades, from the 1950s to the 1990s, using physical materials, records and video.

The museum has recorded oral histories from early female taekwondo practitioners, including Namgung Myeong-seok, the only woman in the first demonstration team of the Korea Taekwondo Association in 1965, as well as instructors Jang Jeong-hee and Jeong Hyo-sim. It also gathered related materials and conducted research that forms the basis of the exhibition.

Its four sections follow a chronological path. The first looks at women who began learning taekwondo in the 1950s and 1960s while confronting social prejudice. The second examines the creation of an independent women’s competition system in the 1970s. The third covers the rise of female practitioners onto the global stage through national-team development and international competitions in the 1980s. The final section focuses on women who became instructors, international referees, administrators and researchers.

Visitors will see more than 100 items, including the first specialist women’s taekwondo magazine, also titled “Taekwondo Women,” and founding materials from the Korean Women’s Taekwondo Federation. Foundation chairman Kim Jung-heon described the exhibition as a reassessment of women’s challenges and dedication through documentary evidence.

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This is an exhibition that reexamines the challenges and dedication of women in taekwondo through documentary evidence.