『태극학보(太極學報)』의 여성계몽 전략

Abstract

This paper analyzed the contents of women’s enlightenment presented by the 『Taekeukhakbo』 and the method of presenting it by comparing it with the composition method of pre-modern women’s discourse. 『Taekeukhakbo』 contains articles related to women in all issues, uses all the notation methods of Chinese, Korean, and Korean. It encompasses most of the gender issues of the time or later, such as the theory of reform, abolition of concubines, prohibition of premature marriage, the theory of women’s education, and the theory of wise women. It can be seen that it was urgent to enlighten women. The women’s discourse presented by 『Taekeukhakbo』 is included in the ‘national’ discourse. The abolition of dogging and concubine was not discussed as a question of gender equality and the affirmation of female desires, and the prohibition of early marriage was not discussed because of female abuse or labor patterns caused by early marriage. It became the object of breaking down as a factor that hindered the modern family and state (society). Women’s education was also emphasized to become the mother-in-law who fosters excellent people as the subject of family education. 『Taekeukhakbo』 consistently argues that women should become excellent individuals with morality and knowledge through education, become members of a healthy family through marriage, and play a role in reproducing children that are helpful to the state (society) as the subject of family education. The criticism of the dog, wedding ceremony, and early marriage customs, which correspond to the absurdity of the premodern patriarchy, was a criticism of the factors that hindered the direction of women’s enlightenment, not raised as a full-fledged discussion of gender equality. In addition, there was also a female perception of the premodern patriarchy represented by male beings, such as otherizing women as objects of male sexual desire or overlapping negative images of obscene or ignorance to women in 『Taekeukhakbo』. It can also be confirmed that women are viewed as a means of maintaining the state (social) and are not much different from the roles required of premodern women in that the role of women is limited to the space of home and the range of knowledge allowed for women is partitioned accordingly. However, the point of inducing women to the field of education outside the home and emphasizing that women’s role as a member of a healthy family and the subject of home education was a national (social) role seems to have implied the expansion of women’s space and influence, and the possibility of intellectual awakening. The emergence of female writers can also be said to be an example of differentiation and innovation in themselves. Of course, the contents seem to have been presented in order to specifically show women who have stated or practiced the direction of female enlightenment 『Taekeukhakbo』. These points of continuity and change found in the content and strategy of 『Taekeukhakbo』’s women’s enlightenment and the comparison of pre-modern women’s discourse could serve as a criterion for examining the process of creating a woman’s modern identity.