신문 기사를 통해 본 식민지기 조선인 산파의 노동 환경과 사회적 위치

Abstract

A midwife is an agent of hygiene policy related to the child birth that is the basis of human society. Therefore, studying midwives is to clarify the path of modernization and civilization, and also to investigate the reality of women's employment problems and life in modern era. However, the amount of research on midwives in colonial Korea is still small, and there are still many questions for clarification about the labor of midwives in colonial Korea. The aim of this paper is to analyze the perception of midwives and the reality of midwives's Labor Environment in Gyeongseong. mainly through media materials from the 1920s. Moreover, this paper aims to establish the position of midwives in the female occupation of colonial Joseon. As a result, the following became clear. In the 1920s, the midwife of Gyeongseong was recognized as a considerably high-income profession among the profession of women. In addition, because it was easy for individuals to start a business, it was recognized as a good job for women to become independent. Furthermore, by investigating the midwife's own voices on the media, it was confirmed that they recognized that they had have a good earnings for a woman, but also they complained their income was unstable. And they were dissatisfied with and criticize Korean society because of lack of understanding about necessity of midwifery. From their criticisms, it was confirmed that they were internalizing a hygiene policy strategy based on the Governor-General's theory of civilization and helping to establish a discourse on medicalization of childbirth. Furthermore, the common statement of midwives of Gyeongseong that the Korean society lacked an understanding about them, which suggests that the hygienic idea of using midwives was not widespread in urban areas in the Korean society.