Traditionally rice farming was performed by the men, and women only participated in dry-field farming. From the 1960s women were able to farm rice due to the increasing shortage of labor power and New Village projects that demanded the participation of women. By the mid-1970s the majority of the labor force in rural villages was made up of women. This was a positive step in overcoming gender discrimination, but the phenomenon of increased female workloads became severe as new work was added to the former burdens.
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A mothers’ group prepares for planting in Hwaam 2(i)-dong (town), Unsu-myeon (town), Goryeong-gun.
A mothers’ group preparing the field for planting in Hwaam 2(i)-dong (town), Unsu-myeon (town), Goryeong-gun. 1973. Photograph owned by New Village branch office, Goryeong-gun.
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Mothers’ group preparing for planting in Hwaam 2(i)-dong, Unsu-myeon, Goryeong-gun
A mothers’ group preparing the field for planting in Hwaam 2(i)-dong, Unsu-myeon, Goryeong-gun. 1973. Photograph owned by New Village branch office, Goryeong-gun.
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Communal work in Maechon-dong, Ssangnim-myeon, Goryeong-gun
1969. Photograph owned by Ssangnim myeon Town Hall, Goryeong-gun. This scene appears to show weeding from a nursery field of young saplings.
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Planting in Maechon-dong, Ssangnim-myeon, Goryeong-gun
1969. Photograph owned by Ssangnim myeon Town Hall. Looking at this photograph, already from the 1960s women were involved in rice farming. In the late Joseon (dynasty) period too, Maechon-dong was a village with well-developed unity among residents through its village code.
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Sericulture in Goryeong-gun
Scene of a sericulture site created in Bugang village, Yajeong 2(i)-dong, Ugok-myeon, Goryeong-gun. 1969. The low mulberry trees have grown well. Because silkworms only eat mulberry leaves, mulberry plantations like this one had to be developed well for sericulture.
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Rural village women engaged in sericulture
In the 1960s the government encouraged sericulture as a use of women’s labor power. This photograph shows women in the Hwasun area spinning silkworm cocoons. Personal photograph from Buk-myeon, Hwasun-gun, Jeollanam-do. 1968.