Rethinking Women's Status and Liberation in Korea by Mee-Hae Kong
The Culture of Sex in Ancient China Paul Rakita Goldin (review by Danny Yee)
Changing Role of Women in South Korea
Neo-Confucian orthodoxy dictated that the woman, separated from her parents, had a primary duty of providing a male heir for her husband's family...
During the Koryo Dynasty, as during earlier periods of Korean history, women enjoyed nearly equal status with men. This situation was due in part to equal inheritance laws that gave both daughters and sons a share in family property. Brothers and sisters (siblings) enjoyed equal status within the family, and the bond between siblings functioned alongside marriage ties. The relatively equal status of women was also due in part to the uxorilocal marriage system under which the bridegroom moved into the household of his wife's family for a time.(continuing on Chosun)During the Choson Dynasty (1329-1910) Korean rulers imposed Confucian practices on society, gradually transforming it. In a long, ongoing process, education, government, family life, social relationships, and religious rituals were made to conform to Confucian ideals.
Confucianism emphasized reverence for ancestors and obedience to (male) authority. As the Confucian model was imposed on Korea, the status of women changed. In Confucian tradition, only a male could perform the rituals needed to honor a family's ancestors and ensure prosperity and harmony. Because women were seen to be useless in this regard, boys were honored above girls.
Marriage customs and patterns of inheritance also changed under the Confucian model. In place of the old Korean custom of the bridegroom living for a time with his wife's family, Confucian practice required the bride to move into the home of her husband's family. There, she was defined by her role in his family as wife, daughter-in-law, mother, or widow. Under the Confucian inheritance system, property passed to male heirs. Thus Korean women lost the inheritance rights that they had enjoyed in earlier times. During the Choson Dynasty, therefore, the status of women in society and their economic independence declined.
Traditions of Exemplary Women from UVa
This project focuses on the Lienü zhuan (Traditions of Exemplary Women) of Liu Xiang (77-6 B.C.), the earliest extant book in the Chinese tradition solely devoted to the moral education of women. The book consists of biographical accounts of female role models in early China and became the standard textbook for women’s education for the next two millennia.