Geunuhoe

Nationalist and socialist women founded the Geunuhoe as the sister organization of the Singanhoe, calling for an end to discrimination against women and for women’s solidarity, with branches across the country.

Women’s activism in the 1920s was split between enlightenment groups such as the Joseon Women’s Education Association and socialist women’s groups that tied women’s liberation to class liberation. When the Singanhoe launched as a united national front, in May 1927 Christian nationalist women such as Kim Hwal-lan and socialist women such as Jeong Chil-seong and Heo Jeong-suk together founded the Geunuhoe.

Its programme called for "abolition of all social and legal discrimination against women", "eradication of feudal customs and superstition", "abolition of child marriage and freedom of marriage", "abolition of human trafficking and licensed prostitution" and "abolition of wage discrimination against women workers". It published the journal "Geunu", set up branches at home and abroad to hold lectures and night schools, and was involved in Seoul schoolgirls’ protests after the Gwangju Student Movement.

Amid internal conflict around the dissolution of the Singanhoe, it disbanded in 1931.