Christian pyrexia and education fever: female empowerment in the late Chosŏn dynasty

Abstract

‘Christian pyrexia’ and ‘education fever’ have contributed greatly to the empowerment of women in Korea and helped with the transformation of Korean society more broadly. This article begins with an overview of the Confucian gender constructs and delimiting social expectations of women in the pre-modern period. It then focuses on the changing socio-political landscape in the late nineteenth century, which set the stage for the arrival of Protestant missionaries, who would transform the educational system. Han’gŭl, the ‘vulgar’ script of women, was soon the evangelising tool of the Protestants who established various institutions to educate ‘modern’ Korean girls and women. This radically transformed their place in society, from passive bystanders in a history that had ignored them. The fever for Christianity, linked with education as a tool for equality amidst the burgeoning of nationalism, was palpable in schools set up in Korea as the dark period of Japanese rule drew near.