고등학교 『한국사』 교과서의 조선시대 여성사 서술과 개선 방향

Abstract

Examined in this article are total of eight Korean History textbooks, authorized by the Ministry of Education on August 30th, 2013, and published and distributed for High school classes. Focus of the examination is placed on topics in which history of Joseon females are discussed and described. In Korean history textbooks, the issue of family is fairly well documented. Questions like how the properties of an individual were inherited to both male and female descendants, how the males lived in former homes of their wives, how they were encouraged to do so upon the beginning of their marriage, as well as written texts such as the Seong’hwa-bo Genealogy book for the Andong Gweon house(安東權氏成化譜) and the Property Distribution document meant for Yulgok Yi Ih and his siblings, are all duly examined and pleasantly highlighted so that they could show the readers how the family system was run in Joseon and what was the females’ general status. It should also be noted that the females’ book-reading practice is well documented too. But issues other than family and culture, issues which would have directly concerned females of the time, are yet to be adequately examined in all textbooks. And there are still some problems caused by inappropriate or unclear interpretation of contents of the written texts. Illustrations chosen to depict the lives of females are in many cases folk pictures which may draw interest of the readers yet do not go that far to explain how the females lived in the past. The number of females highlighted in textbooks also remain at mere nine. In order to solve these problems, and increase documentation of past females’ lives, the principle of history textbook authoring should employ a more gender-equitable perspective. Korean History textbooks serve as a tool of not only enlightening youths of their past history but also inseminating them with a fundamental view to observe both present and the past. If the quality is not enforced by the principle, the only hope would be the author’s self-imposed discretion.