ABSTRACT
This chapter looks closely at the development of female wage labour participation in that industrial revolutionary period. It examines some of the pre-eminent issues concerning the female labour force, and their social, political, and cultural ramifications. The chapter offers a discussion of the historical origins of the relevant Korean cultural patterns; origins which were much influenced by Confucian ideology. It examines the rationale that underpinned the structures and processes within Korean society facilitating the systematic oppression of women. The chapter considers the demographic trends of the period which reflected the mass-migration of girls and young women from the countryside to the city. The family backgrounds and circumstances of these young migrants are described, in concert with their motives for seeking employment in the urban areas, and the methods of recruitment they experienced. The chapter also considers the more specific applications of Confucian philosophy to the lives of Korean working women.
