Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-8zxtt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-11T16:23:31.575Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Trailblazers in a Traditional World: Korea’s First Women College Graduates, 1910–45

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2016

Jihang Park
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

To the western visitor around the turn of the century, Korean women seemed the most secluded on earth. Isabella Bishop, the adventurous English traveler who visited Korea in the last years of the nineteenth century, reported that women there experienced a unique confinement: from the closing of the city gates of Seoul at dusk, all men except for the blind and officials were banished from the streets; then, and only then, in the safety of a male-free darkness, were the women at liberty to stroll and make social calls. And the higher the woman’s status, the more severe her seclusion. The queen herself conceded that she knew little of her country, having never seen the streets of Seoul by daylight. This deprivation stemmed from the peculiar practice of rigidly segregating and secluding girls when they reached the age of six (Allen 1908; Bishop 1898; Glünicke 1904; Jones 1896). The custom was observed so faithfully that Bishop, during her extensive Korean travels, never saw a girl who looked above six. The traditional Korean society therefore lacked the “brightness which girl life contributes to social existence” (Bishop 1898: 342).

Type
Research Article
Information
Social Science History , Volume 14 , Issue 4 , Winter 1990 , pp. 533 - 558
Copyright
Copyright © Social Science History Association 1990 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allen, Horace N. (1908) Things Korean. New York: Fleming H. Reveil.Google Scholar
Banks, Olive (1986) Faces of Feminism: A Study of Feminism as a Social Movement. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Banks, Olive (1987) Becoming Feminists. Athens: University of Georgia Press.Google Scholar
Bergman, Sten (1938) In Korean Wilds and Villages1, translated by Whyte, F.. London: John Glifford.Google Scholar
Bishop, Isabella (1898) Korea and Her Neighbors. New York: Fleming H. Reveil.Google Scholar
Cho, S. H. (1924) “Sŏyang sŏnkyosaege” (To the authorities of missionary schools). Sinyŏsŏng 2 (November): 81–82.Google Scholar
Chokwang (Dawn) (1935-44).Google Scholar
Chŏng, S. D. (1925) “Jolŏpchŏnyŏui ponmin” (Agony of a high school graduate). Sinyŏsŏng 3 (November): 23–26.Google Scholar
Chŏng, S. W. (1972) “Hangook keundae yŏsŏng kyoyook” (Modern education of Korean women), in Hangook yŏsŏngsa (The history of Korean women), by Ha, M. K., Lee, H. J., Lee, T. Y., Yu, H. K., Kim, Y. D., and Su, K. S., vol. 2. Seoul: Ewha Women’s University: 245–348.Google Scholar
Chŏng, Woonyoung, and Lee, T., eds. (1984) Hangook chabonjooeuron (The development of capitalism in Korea). Seoul: Kachi.Google Scholar
Chōsen Government-General (1930a) Kokuzei chōsa hōkoku (Population census data). Seoul.Google Scholar
Chōsen Government-General (1930b, 1940) Tokei nempō (Statistical yearbook of the government- general). Seoul.Google Scholar
Cumings, Bruce (1984) “The legacy of Japanese colonialism in Korea,” in Myers, Ramon and Peattie, Mark (eds.) The Japanese Colonial Empire. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press: 4781–96.Google Scholar
Ewha Women’s University (1925-45) College register. Seoul.Google Scholar
Ewha Women’s University (1967) Ewha palsipnyŏnsa (The eighty-year history of Ewha). Seoul: Ewha Women’s University Press.Google Scholar
Glünicke, G. J. R. (1904) “The women of Korea.” Nineteenth Century 56: 42–45.Google Scholar
Grajdanzer, Andrew J. (1944) Modern Korea. New York: Institute of Pacific Relations.Google Scholar
Han, S. J. (1936) “Keuriwoon yetsaenggak” (Reminiscence of old days). Sinkajŏng 4 (June): 164-65.Google Scholar
Hangook nongchon kyŏngje yŏngooso (Korea Agriculture Research Center) (1985) Ilcheha taechijoo myŏngboo (The list of large landowners under Japanese rule). Seoul.Google Scholar
Jones, George H. (1896) “The status of woman in Korea.” Korean Repository 3: 223-29.Google Scholar
Kendall, L., and Peterson, M., eds. (1983) Korean Women: View from the Inner Room. New Haven, CT: East Rock.Google Scholar
Kim, Helen (1964) Grace Sufficient: The story of Helen Kim, by Herself. Nashville, TN: Upper Room.Google Scholar
Kim, Kijin (1934) “Chosŏnyŏsŏngyiyŏ, toksŏ;hara” (Read, Korean women). Sinkajŏng 2 (October): 26–28.Google Scholar
Kim, S. Y., and Lee, Y. (1933) Sōzi Chōsen kenkū (Statistical study of Korea). Seoul.Google Scholar
Kim, Yongmo (1982) Hangook sawhoe kecheung yŏngoo (Study of social stratification in Korea). Seoul: Ilchogak.Google Scholar
Kim, Yoonwhan, Cho, K. J., Chang, S. W., Chung, W. Y., Lee, Y. M., Kang, M. K., Kim, Y. S. (1988) Hangook chabonjooeu sŏngkyŏknonjaeng (Disputes on capitalist development in Korea). Seoul: Taewang.Google Scholar
Kwon, Taewhan, Lee, H. Y., Chang, Y. S., and Yu, E. Y. (1975) The Population of Korea. Seoul: Seoul National University Press.Google Scholar
Kyŏngsŏng Sanggong hoeuiso (1923) Kyŏngsŏng sanggong myōngnok (Who’s who in business in Seoul). Seoul.Google Scholar
Lee, Hyŏnhee (1982) Hanguk kundae yŏsŏng kaewhasa (A history of the enlightenment of Korean women). Seoul: Iwoo.Google Scholar
Min, Sookhyŏn, and Park, T. (1981) Hangaram Pomparame (A chronicle of a hundred years of Ewha). Seoul: Jiin.Google Scholar
Mo, Yoonsook (1936) “Ŏtŏke nan siini deŏtna?” (How I became a poet?). Sinkajŏng 4 (March): 92–96.Google Scholar
Pahk, InDuk (1954) September Monkey. New York: Harper and Brothers.Google Scholar
Park, C. W., Ham, S. P., Yu, S. J., and Yu, J. T. (1920) “Chosŏnyŏsŏng haebangkwan” (The emancipation of Korean women). Kebyŏk 4 (September): 28–45.Google Scholar
Park, Hyonchae, Chong, Y. H., Lee, K. U., and Lee, D. K., eds. (1987) Hangook kyŏngjeron (Study of the Korean economy). Seoul: Kachi.Google Scholar
Park, Jihang (1987) “Women of their time: The growing recognition of the second sex in Victorian and Edwardian England.” Journal of Social History 21 : 49–67.Google Scholar
Park, Kyongsik, ed. (1975) Chōsen mondai shiro shōsho (Koreans in Japan: Select documents), vol. 2. Tokyo: Sanichi shobō.Google Scholar
Pyŏlkŏngon (Heaven and earth) (1926-34).Google Scholar
Roundtable (1931) “Hakboohyŏngui yŏhaksaeng moonje jadamhoe” (Parents talking about daughters). Sinyŏsŏng 9 (June): 31–36.Google Scholar
Roundtable (1933) “Chŏnyŏ jadamhoe” (Famous mademoiselles). Sinyŏsŏng 7 (January): 18–28.Google Scholar
Sinyŏsŏng (New woman) (1923-34).Google Scholar
Son, Insoo (1971) Hangook keundae kyoyoongnon (History of modern education in Korea, 1885-1945). Seoul: Yŏnse University Press.Google Scholar
Tonga, Ilbo (Tonga daily news) (1920-40).Google Scholar
Tsurumi, E. Patricia (1984) “Colonial education in Korea and Taiwan,” in Myers, Ramon and Peattiel, Mark (eds.) The Japanese Colonial Empire, 1895-1945. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press: 275–311.Google Scholar
Vicinus, Martha (1985) Independent Women: Work and Community for Single Women, 1850-1920. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Walton, R. (1975) Women in Social Work. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
XYZ (1926) “Pyŏngpanchoeun yŏsŏnsaengnimdeul” (Respected women teachers). Pyŏlkŏngon 1 (December): 64–68.Google Scholar
Yosong (Women) (1936-40).Google Scholar