婦女守節考 = On the Chastity of Women

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

From the age of Koguryo until the end of the Koryo dynasty (A.D. 1C-14C) woman's social life was free, and marriage was made in the form of free love, accordingly divorce and remarriage were often occurred.
But during the Yi dynasty Chu-hsi Confucianism became the principle of reign. It required every woman to be loyal and obeident to each family. In this doctrine,. $quot;woman must not serve more than one husband$quot; was the starting point and the basic ground for moral edification, and the imperative law by which they were strongly urged and enforced. The going out of doors of women and social intercourse between man and woman were strictly restrained and also sexual promiscuity was severely punished, while the woman of chastity was praised and received many privilages.
The decisive prohibition against remarriage was the worst law, which defies comparison with other countries in the East: descendants of the remarried woman were refused entrance into the civil service. Thus, parents boasting of their family or villagers boasting of their Confucian tradition defended the prohibition against remarriage very cruelly. At length, the woman who lost her husband had to remain a widow throughout her whole life. In every class this was changed into the custom, so that Korea became a nation of chaste women.
But in the middle of the 19th century when Tonghak thought arose, they not only opposed the feudalistic inequality and insisted upon human equality but also advocated women's remarriage for the sake of women's rights. That was the first call for the emancipation of woman that sprouted from the inner part of the ancient feudalistic society.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• 1. 高句麗·百濟·新羅·高麗時代의 女性
• 2. 朝鮮王朝 創建과 女性
• 3. 守節의 奬勵
• 4. 女必從一의 名分論
• 5. 佛敎·巫俗과 女性
• 6. 中宗代의 儒敎主義
• 7. 壬亂·胡亂과 女性
• 8. 烈女의 內面相
• 9. 朝鮮時代의 女性生活
• 10. 天主敎와 女性
• 11. 要約