High heels, lace and handbags. In recent decades, there’s been a huge shift in the role of North Korean women and the choices they’re able to make – including what they wear.

In this episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast, we hear about new research on how North Korean women are driving a new form of grassroots capitalism, and changing the country in the process.

“It’s a salutary lesson to all patriarchies. You shouldn’t take your eye off the women,” says Bronwen Dalton. She’s head of the department of management at the University of Technology Sydney Business School in Australia and a co-author, with her colleague Kyungja Jung, of a new book on the role of women in North Korea.

Their research was based on conversations with 52 North Korean defectors living in........

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