TENACIOUS KOREAN WOMEN Reconstruction of Gender Roles from the Joseon Dynasty to 20th-Century Immigration

Abstract

Korean immigrant women to the United States at the beginning of the 20th century proved that existing gender roles can be deconstructed and reconstructed. Agreeing with the famous statement of Simone de Beauvoir that “being born male or female does not determine behavior,” Judith Butler’s gender performativity claims that everyday actions, speech utterances, gestures, dress codes, behaviors, and rituals are constructed within a given culture as essential components of masculine or feminine identity. An analysis of the Neo-Confucian patriarchal society of the Joseon dynasty finds that the dominant authorities at the time constructed and reinforced gender roles to control women’s behavior. Korean immigrant women’s experiences on foreign soil validate the possibility of deconstruction and reconstruction; gender roles could be altered through their struggle for survival and subsequent rebuilding of family structures from patriarchy to matriarchy. This matriarchy was possible in part because of America’s more advanced democratic capitalist society, where most extreme forms of patriarchy had eroded, and because the gendered immigration policy led to an extremely unbalanced sex ratio in the Korean community, which elevated women’s status. The deaths of picture brides’ elderly husbands and the development of entrepreneurial skills and financial independence by women also contributed. An analysis of these factors and the narratives of the three remarkable immigrant matriarchs suggest that Butler’s claims are correct.