The status and role of women in Korean families in the pre-modern era have several unique characteristics compared to the various cultures of the time. First of all, Korean women, along with China, kept their father's surnames unchanged even if they were married, and compared to other East Asian countries, ...
(Show more)The status and role of women in Korean families in the pre-modern era have several unique characteristics compared to the various cultures of the time. First of all, Korean women, along with China, kept their father's surnames unchanged even if they were married, and compared to other East Asian countries, women's economic power in their families was relatively strong and private property was recognized through inheritance system. In addition, determining the social status and class of an individual was not the lineage of the paternity but the mother line, that is, the mother's social status was crucial. Despite these backgrounds and characteristics, male was the head of the household in the family, which was also defined in the national legal system.
Nevertheless, there are cases in which women become the dominant figure in the family register, which can be referred to as the Korea's census data in the pre-modern era. A study has been conducted on the relationship between women as the heads of household sand national relief system. However, a more detailed analysis of the long-term implications of the family's strategy of experiencing the female head of household from a demographic and family perspective is needed. In the Chos?n Dynasty, there was a regulation that a widow, or a woman who lost her husband, would take her son as her guardian if she had a grown-up son, even though she was in charge of the housework. However, unlike legislative regulations, the number of female heads of households began to increase in spite of having a son who became a mature adult in the middle of the 18th century. According to the household register record, the ratio and content of the women as the heads of households were recorded differently at certain times, depending on the social class of women.
Based on the results of previous studies, we want to carry out this study on the family succession strategy through the female heads of households in the Korean pre -modern era. The long-term follow-up and linkage of female heads of households recorded in the 17thand 19thcentury census will analyze the role and impact of female heads of households in terms of family continuity. We will also present the existence and the alteration of the women as the heads of households by various regions, time periods, and classes, depending on which social-period background. Such efforts could serve as the basis for a comparative analysis of various historical experiences derived differently from crises that can be seen anywhere, such as war or disaster, in individual cultural, linguistic and political power zones that vary in time and space on the Eurasian continent.
(Show less)