Korean Confucianism and the Erosion of Women’s Rights

Confucianism is not just clever saying in fortune cookies. Confucius envisioned a society where good people behaved in a civilized manner through education, proper government and family life, all guided by a system of rites and rituals. He was born in China, but China never made consistent use of his teachings. China, although incorporating many Confucian ideals (patrilineage, for example) used Confucian doctrines along with others, as suited their purpose. They never chose to be a distinct “Confucian ” country. Korea, on the other hand, at the change of dynasties in 1392, made a conscious decision to become a thoroughly Confucian country. This paper looks at one aspect of what can happen when such good intentions are taken to the extreme. The past, an unrelenting archer, is forever aiming arrows into the present. In the current year of 2004, a young Korean woman told me the following story: “After hearing your talk, I went home and cried in a most heartrending way. The oppressive institutions of recent centuries have weighed heavily on my own life, even growing up in the USA. Fo