18세기 여성의 생애사 기록을 통해 본 빈곤의 감성 통제와 여성의 삶

Abstract

This paper analyzed the women’s economical recognition and economic activity through 1,063 pieces of original texts which were written by male elites called sadaebu during the 18th century Joseon, focusing on the meaning of economy, female attitude toward family poverty and their management of household finances. At this research, I explained the female preparation plan on the poverty and their family members’ attitude on penury. The wide variety of texts which were recorded of female life stories showed that women should make a living by themselves to make their husbands keep their morality of poor but honest living. Poor women should take care of the poor neighbor and relatives even they suffered from extreme poverty and did their filial duty for their parents-in-law, and assisted their husbands. The poor family’s wives and mothers should make sacrifices for their family members by laboring to earn money, take caring of their poor neighbor and relatives. Woman’s economic ability and managing poverty was represented with the terms of ‘ethics’, not those of ‘potentialities’ or ’qualification’. At that time, woman did not permitted formal educational opportunity of the writing with hanmun (written Chinese), so all the records about woman were written by their male family members. As a result it should be considered that all the texts which were written about women’s daily lives were reflected the male elite’s perspectives; cultural angles. moral positions, and engendered viewpoint.