Korean Women:

This inquiry leads students through an investigation of the extent to which women in three time periods of Korea’s history were subjects or actors. That is, how much agency did they have in their lives, or were they more subject to the social, economic and political forces of their time.
Students will take a position on the extent to which women in Korea’s history were actors or subjects through three key time periods of Korea’s history:

•  The Joseon period (1392 to 1876),
• The late Joseon period and Japanese colonial rule (1876 to 1945) and then
• Contemporary Korea (1945 to the present).

Students will work with the sources to determine how much each particular woman was an active or passive participant in historical events, and then see if they can draw overall conclusions about a time period or a historical influence. This inquiry is designed for a senior secondary classroom and requires prerequisite knowledge of interpreting primary sources and examining multiple perspectives of historical actors.

This resource is designed to be used in senior World History courses. However it can also be used in other subject areas such as Geography, Social Sciences, Gender and Equity Studies, Sociology and Social Studies. It can be used as a whole over a few days, or questions and sources can be used independently where time is at a premium. We hope that it will inspire you and your students to learn more about Korea and to ask questions about the histories and roles of women in your own communities too.

This inquiry used the Inquiry Design Model developed by C3 Teachers. This is the same model used in the resource Canada’s Participation in the Korean War.