Changes of Rural women's Economic Role in a Korean Village -The Case of San Village-

Original Article

Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association 1991;29(3):247-261.

논문편 : 한국 농촌여성의 경제적 역할 변화에 대한 사례연구 - 충청북도 청원군 산마을을 중심으로 -

이영미

성신여자대학교 가정대학 가정관리학과 대학원생

Changes of Rural women's Economic Role in a Korean Village -The Case of San Village-

이영미

ABSTRACT

This Study is designed to present the concret data on the contents of the economic role and their change in the recent decade among women in a Korean Village. The Case Study method was used and the data was obtained through the participant observation. This Study is composed of the three parts. The first part deals with the effect of the agricultural mechanization upon the agricultural labor pattern of women. The second part examines how the introduction of a golf course and the textile factory in the vinicity affects the labor pattern among village women. The last part tries to demonstrate that the increasing contribution of women to the village economy has not yet produced any positive effect to their social status in the village. This is seen through the detailed description of two important village activities, one social(Tae dong-Gae) and the other ritual (Mokshinjae). The Results of the Study can be summarized as fallows. Firstly, the mechanization of farming is responsible for the increasing marginalization of women's labor in farming. This is particularly true for rice cultivation. Horticulture is still cultivated by women. As the mechanization progresses further, this trend will be more articulated. Secondly, it is found that women are actively utilizing the new external economic opportunities. In fact they are found to prefer those non-farming works to the traditional farming work. The former offers them less burdened work, less working hours, and more income than the letter. Lastly, women are found to be completely excluded from the process of the two important village activities. Only men are participants in them, and women only provides the labor for preparation of food and the necessary chores.