ABSTRACT
Modern feminism—the struggle to attain social and political equality and improved social status regardless of one's gender—has long been linked to nationalism. Nationalism did not require the existence of the sovereign state. In cases where a country did not have national sovereignty, nationalism represented a yearning for the nation, which could be—and usually was—seen in a positive light as a quest for liberation. In the interest of achieving national independence, women were actively incorporated into nationalist endeavors. The nationalist program initiated a number of activities oriented toward family and society that were designed to bring women into the effort to build the new nation. In Korea and China in the first half of the twentieth century, feminists' struggles for rights and status were intertwined with the struggle to create a modern nation, though often in an uneasy balance.
