조선후기 여성의 노동과 경제활동:18~!9세기 양반여성을 중심으로

Abstract

I have investigated the aspects of women’s labor and economic activities after the 17th century of Chosŏn in this paper. In Chosŏn dynasty, the sphere of women’s domestic labor was not limited to the household economy, but expanded to the commercial economy. Women’s sericulture and spinning were related to the state economy, as they were sorts of production labors. Even so, these facts have not been gotten much attention. The whole idea on women’s labor and economic activities in Chosŏn dynasty cannot be all covered in this paper, however, to raise a question, this paper has investigated the understanding of women’s labor at the time. Then, the feature and value of their labor have been disclosed. Spinning was not only self sufficient labor which provides garments of the family, but also production labors which produces goods. The main agent of spinning labor was mainly a woman of the common class or a maidservant, but woman of high class was enthusiastic to the spinning as well, in order to make a living or to accumulate the wealth. It is found that purposes of the spinning were different depending on the classes. In the case of woman of high class, they spent the money for the family of husband or of their own. Thus, their labor can be evaluated as a labor that was conducted for the domestic economy. However, even in this case, we can find many examples that women manage their own property. It means, it can not be said that women in Chosŏn were simply exploited. Furthermore, spinning conducted in households in Chosŏn seems to be related to segmentation of producing cotton and silk. A revaluation on the Chosŏn women’s labor is needed to be carefully done.