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Summary

The most powerful gender ideology in twentieth-century Korea was the ideal of the “wise mother, good wife” (hyŏnmo yangch’ŏ). This chapter examines the genealogy of hyŏnmo yangch’ŏ, demonstrating the diachronic, multivalent, and transcultural sources that contributed to it. The chapter specifically examines the dynamic interactions between the Korean tradition of womanly virtue (pudŏk) from the Chosŏn dynasty, Meiji Japan’s gender ideology (ryōsai kenbo), which gained prominence during the Japanese colonial era, and the Victorian notion of domesticity introduced by American Protestant missionaries. The chapter puts forward the argument that the prevailing notion of “wise mother, good wife” as the ideal for womanhood in Korea was a modern construct that grew out of these transcultural interactions. It was also an expedient framework that redefined domesticity in a way that was appropriate for the changing national and global milieu.

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1 - Ideology: “Wise Mother, Good Wife”

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1 - Ideology: “Wise Mother, Good Wife”

Summary