Troubles of the “New Women” in the Emergence of Modern Korea: Focusing on the Interrelationship between “Women’s Liberation” and the Image of “Wise Mother and Good Wife”

Abstract

This paper investigates formation of Women's identity and desires in historical context of early modern Korea where nationalism and colonialism were competing forces. The paper pays particular attention to asymmetric combination of concepts of women's and wise mother and good wife in Korea in period of modernization. It examines opposition to these by efforts of New Women. In Korea, notion of being a wise mother and good wife in nationalistic discourse, agenda for women, was combined with modern concepts such as the equality of men and women and the natural rights of man from Western political ideologies. The paper covers a few facets that new woman phenomenon engendered and serves as a rough historical survey. Keywords: modern Korea; mother; Women; wife; liberation