Yenlin Ku (sometimes spelled Yenling Ku) is a prominent feminist involved in the women's movement in Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

.

Ku has been active in the movement since the mid 1970s. In 1982 Ku and a group of colleagues who supported gender equality

Gender equality

Gender equality is the goal of the equality of the genders, stemming from a belief in the injustice of myriad forms of gender inequality.- Concept :...

 established the magazine

Magazine

Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...

 Awakening to encourage women's self-awareness

Self-awareness

Self-awareness is the capacity for introspection and the ability to reconcile oneself as an individual separate from the environment and other individuals...

 and to raise public concern about women's issues. This project was followed in 1987 by the Awakening Foundation with the intention of mobilizing more women, improving their social conditions and striving for their rights. After returning from the 1985 Nairobi

Nairobi

Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...

 conference, Ku and other women's studies scholars formed the Women's Research Program at National Taiwan University

National Taiwan University

National Taiwan University is a national co-educational university located in Taipei, Republic of China . In Taiwan, it is colloquially known as "Táidà" . Its main campus is set upon 1,086,167 square meters in Taipei's Da'an District. In addition, the university has 6 other campuses in Taiwan,...

. She served as chair of the Awakening Foundation from 1997–1998 and became the first femocrat in Taiwan in the end of 1998.

Ku has a B.A.

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 from National Taiwan University, an M.A.

Master of Arts (postgraduate)

A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...

 from the Claremont Graduate University

Claremont Graduate University

Claremont Graduate University is a private, all-graduate research university located in Claremont, California, a city east of downtown Los Angeles...

 and an Ed.S. from Indiana University

Indiana University

Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...

. She is a teacher at the Graduate Institute for Gender Studies and an adviser to Taipei

Taipei

Taipei City is the capital of the Republic of China and the central city of the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan. Situated at the northern tip of the island, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River, and is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean...

City Government. Many of her experiences and observations are collected in her blog "feminist-original".

Selected works

• Yenlin, Ku (1988). "The changing status of women in Taiwan: a conscious and collective struggle toward equality". Women's Studies International Forum 11(3): 179‐186.
• Yenlin, Ku (1989). "The Feminist Movement in Taiwan, 1972‐87". Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars 21(1).
• Yenlin, Ku (1996). "Selling a Feminist Agenda on a Conservative Market: The Awakening Experience in Taiwan" in Radically Speaking: Feminism Reclaimed, Diane Bell and Renate Klein, eds. Melbourne: Spinifex Press, pp. 423–428.
• Yenlin, Ku (2008). "Feminist activism within bureaucracy: Process of formulating and implementing regulations governing the protection of women's rights in Taipei". Women's Studies International Forum 31(3): 176‐185.