Abstract

The process of modernization in Korea can be observed from many domains. The appearance of “New Women” is one of such domain which attracts our interest. The ego ideal of traditional Korean women was the mother who was subjected to patriarchal authority. But the “new woman” is the subject who has desire of her own. These new women appeared as a result of the introduction of modern ideas of the women's liberation movement in Occident. And Korea was still under the domination of Confucian ideology. The pathology of Korean new women results from the two conflicting conditions. We observe many cases which prove anomie of new women such as divorce, suicide, marriage without love, etc. As a result, the Korean new women were but mirror image of occidental bourgeois women. It was also a symptom of Korean new women. The desire of Korean new women was conflicting to the symbolic order of Confucian society. But it obtained force because it was related to their desire. Even they pursued their desire, they usually lacked material conditions because they were daughters of Korean society where women were disadvantaged from the start. These conditions obliged them to incline again to patriarchal authority. From theses facts, it was inevitable for the first generation of Korean modern women to experience some pathological phenomenon.