Gender and Mission Encounters in Korea

Swapping Gender Traditionalism: Christianity, Buddhism, and Gender Ideology in South Korea

“…The ban on ancestral worship essentially challenges the supremacy of men as the protectors of family linearity and ancestral blessings. In addition, by providing formal education for women who were previously excluded from these opportunities (Choi 2000(Choi , 2009Hong 2019), Christianity facilitated the advancement of gender equality, especially during modernization in Korea. Protestant mission schools, in particular, offered literacy training in Chinese, Korean, and English, as well as modern subjects, such as geography and physiology, although their primary goal was to convert Korean women to Christianity (Choi 2000(Choi , 2009Hong 2019).…”

“…In addition, by providing formal education for women who were previously excluded from these opportunities (Choi 2000(Choi , 2009Hong 2019), Christianity facilitated the advancement of gender equality, especially during modernization in Korea. Protestant mission schools, in particular, offered literacy training in Chinese, Korean, and English, as well as modern subjects, such as geography and physiology, although their primary goal was to convert Korean women to Christianity (Choi 2000(Choi , 2009Hong 2019). Nevertheless, the modern education provided by these mission schools countered centuries-old prejudices against women's intellectual inferiority grounded in Confucianism and opened new professional opportunities for Korean women (Choi 2000(Choi , 2009.…”

“…Despite Christianity's gender‐egalitarian association in Korea, it is important to emphasize that neither Protestantism nor Catholicism entirely supports gender equality in practice, especially within families. At their core, many Christian teachings are based on gender‐essentialist beliefs that men and women are intended to perform different roles, thus supporting the notion of separate spheres and emphasizing female domesticity (Choi 2009; Hong 2019; Schnabel 2016). For example, early Christian mission schools in Korea offered girls home economics classes as part of the core curriculum, which taught sewing, cooking, and child‐rearing, underscoring women's indispensable roles as Christian mothers in Christian homes (Choi 2009; Hong 2019).…”

“…At their core, many Christian teachings are based on gender‐essentialist beliefs that men and women are intended to perform different roles, thus supporting the notion of separate spheres and emphasizing female domesticity (Choi 2009; Hong 2019; Schnabel 2016). For example, early Christian mission schools in Korea offered girls home economics classes as part of the core curriculum, which taught sewing, cooking, and child‐rearing, underscoring women's indispensable roles as Christian mothers in Christian homes (Choi 2009; Hong 2019). Chong (2006)’s study also highlights that such tensions continued when Korean women participated in evangelicalism in the 1990s.…”

“…Protestant mission schools, in particular, offered literacy training in Chinese, Korean, and English, as well as modern subjects, such as geography and physiology, although their primary goal was to convert Korean women to Christianity (Choi 2000(Choi , 2009Hong 2019). Nevertheless, the modern education provided by these mission schools countered centuries-old prejudices against women's intellectual inferiority grounded in Confucianism and opened new professional opportunities for Korean women (Choi 2000(Choi , 2009. Further, the Christian notion of equality for women and men under God, grounded in some Christian texts, was regarded as a shift away from hierarchical Confucian gender relations in which women were viewed as inferior to men (Choi 2009;Chong 2006).…”