International Women’s Day 2024: 6 Female Centered K-dramas Representing Different Shades of Womanhood

Women Centric K-drama:  K-dramas have shattered a lot of stereotypes. Be it about the mass image of masculine and feminine or the portrayal of different facets of womanhood, the K-dramas have been paving the way for progressive plotlines and evolving culture to flourish.

Women in K-dramas have been redefined as strong, resident, compassionate, and yet headstrong people away from the norm of damsel in distress or the witch in disguise. Female-led K-dramas have allowed us to take away the male gaze from them, and restructure them as human, and individual beings of their own authority and autonomy. Moon Dong-Eun from The Glory’s displayed endurance and Oh Inju’s determination to unleash evil are just some instances proving how the portrayal of strong and emotionally intelligent women has been amplifying the many shades of womanhood. Here are six such shows and their female lead, that will surely leave you feeling reinvigorated and determined. 

Yoon Ji-Woo from My Name

My Name is popularly deemed as a revenge action thriller, which it is but it is also a bildungsroman of sort of Yoon Ji-Woo from a meek school-going girl to a lethal combat. A woman who held to her determination to avenge her father's death, built herself so strong emotionally, physically, and mentally that when the time comes she duels with the very man who killed her father and makes him pay for his actions. All this while, Ji-Woon has not turned stone but has also nested compassion and love for others which she experiences though for a brief time with Bo-Hyun Ahn.   

Moon Dong-Eun from The Glory     

Moon Dong-Eun proves that everyone who has been broken in life, gives up their willpower, and mental strength. The traumatic experience of being bullied at an impressionable age leaves her shattered physically yes, and her body carries the memories of what she went through. However, her power shines through in her willpower and strength to rise from the ashes and avenge the wrong done to her. Her strategic mind and headstrong determination set her apart.  

Kang Ji-Won from Marry My Husband 

Now, I know Fantastical is the show of a woman reversing time and fate to change her life by Kang Ji-Won is not just seeking revenge. Her characters portray the intensity of love within a woman, and the trust she entrusts in their partner when they decides to be them, so when the partner does something as cheating, it is not the woman to be blamed for not keeping her husband ‘happy’ as the society would say. When she can love unconditionally, she will be unbiased in revenge too. 

Woo Young-Woo from Extraordinary Attorney Woo 

Women and mental or physical disorders are a tightrope, one misstep and the nuance of portrayal could look like ridicule of a sensitive issue. Woo is an autistic lawyer; neurodivergence sets her as an oddball but her eccentricity only emancipates her by letting her think in ways nobody else tries and helping her resolve her cases like no other.  

Oh Injoo from Little Women 

Many look at her as the elder sister we all would want, and some might think of her wish to marry rich as shallow, but Oh Injoo epitomizes resilience, and ambition. She wants to marry rich because she has grown up in a society that puts money and men on the highest pedestal. There was a time when the only money-making prospects women had was to find affluent men and it was not their shallowness but the follies of the world that did not allow them to be their own person. 

These are just a few of the K-drama women mentioned here, add to your list and continue to take inspiration from them all.