Dae Jang Geum

The main task of the majority of Chosŏn women was to carry out household chores. Moreover, women from the commoner and lowborn classes (ch’ŏnin, which usually referred to the yangban’s female slaves), also had to engage in agricultural labor, with some even active in commerce. However, there were also some special professions in which women were engaged in, such as palace women or kungnyŏ (goong nyuh), female physicians (ŭinyŏ) and entertainers (kinyŏ), as well as shamans (munyŏ). Although these women were for the most part from the lowborn class, they nevertheless possessed skills which allowed them to engage in specialized professions.

In the deeply Confucian Chosŏn society, which was exemplified by the strengthening of the naewoebŏp (內外法: a law and behavioral code which prohibited free contact between men and women, which was based on the notion of rigid gender roles, in which men were considered to be the “woe“ while women were the “nae“, that restricted men’s sphere of influence to matters outside of the house, and conversely, women’s to internal family matters), female physicians (ŭinyŏ) were responsible for tending to other women when they fell ill. There were two types of female physicians, those who worked within the palace (naeuinyŏ) and those who worked for the state-sponsored health clinics located in certain areas of the country (hyeminsŏ). The female physicians who worked within the palace were responsible for tending to the women of the palace; meanwhile, those who worked in health clinics were assigned to look after women of the commoner class. It goes without saying that rigid standards were applied when it came to the selection of the female physicians who were to work within the palace. Such female physicians continued to be employed within the palace until the very end of the dynasty.

These female physicians were however prohibited from going into private practice. Although they were allowed to examine patients, the female physicians nevertheless had to defer to their male counterparts when it came time to make a prescription. As male doctors were not permitted to touch a woman, the actual disinfection of infected areas was carried out by the women physicians, with the same holding true when a female patient required acupuncture. These female physicians also played the role of midwife.

This ŭinyŏ system was first suggested by Hŏ To during the sixth year of the reign of King T’aejong. Hŏ suggested that a certain number of young girls should be trained to become physicians in the Chesaengwŏn (which was the name given to a certain type of medical facility during the Chosŏn dynasty). Moreover Hŏ argued that, “As there are many instances in which sick women prefer to die rather than be seen by a male doctor, we should select scores of young women and provide them with the necessary medical training so that we can save such women.”

However, the number of such female physicians was increased in the aftermath of the implementation of the naewoebŏp. Moreover, as the demand for such female physicians grew in outlying areas, the Chesaengwŏn began to select young girls of 10 or older who exhibited a high degree of intelligence, and then dispatched them to these areas once their training was complete.

These female physicians, who were subjected to an intense training program, usually received a stipend from the government twice a year. The reason why these female physicians who belonged to the Chesaengwŏn were paid twice a year was because they lived a rigorous life which involved constant studying and the looking after of patients on a daily basis.

As the Chesaengwŏn was merged with the Hyeminguk during the reign of King Sejo, the latter became responsible for the training of the female physicians. The Hyeminguk established a system under which the girls were rewarded when their grades were high, and conversely, punished when they were not (ŭinyŏ kwŏnjing Chokŏn). Moreover, the most outstanding students received a monthly stipend. The structure of this system made it such that these female physicians came to possess a large amount of medical knowledge and skills.

The education of these female physicians was further invigorated as time went by, with a more detailed education program put into place during the reign of King Songjong (Ŭinyŏ Kwŏngwajo). Under this new education programs, the female physicians were expected to master the following texts: Injaejikjimaek (仁齋直指脈); Tonginch´imhyŏlch´imgugyŏng (銅人鍼穴鍼灸經); Kagamsipsambang (加減十三方); T´aepyŏnghyeminhwajegukbang (太平惠民和劑局方); and the Puinmunsansŏ (婦人門産書) . These female physicians were divided into three levels: the first consisting of the top two female physicians, who were referred to as naeŭi and received a monthly stipend; the second, the kanbyŏngŭi, consisted of 20 women, of which only the top four received a stipend; while the third, ch’ohakŭi, was made up of the remaining women. A woman who failed to develop an adequate level of medical skills by the time she was forty, was sent back to her place of origin and replaced with a new trainee.

Different means were used to encourage the female physicians to acquire a deep body of medical knowledge. For example, during the reign of King Yŏngjo, the female physicians working at the hyeminsŏ who were found to exhibit a superior level of medical knowledge and skills were promoted to the palace. On occasion, certain female physicians even had their social status upgraded to that of commoner. Such cases usually involved a female physician’s successful treatment of a female member of the royal family.

These physicians carried out tasks which required a high degree of medical knowledge; these included the conducting of medical investigations in relation to legal cases, the administration of poison to female criminals, the investigation of crimes and of members of the sadaebu class luxurious wedding customs, as well as crimes committed within the palace or involving women from the sadaebu class.

While these female physicians can be regarded as having been professionals, their social status remained quite low because of their lowborn origins as either daughters’ of government slaves or of kisaeng. Moreover, during the reign of the Yŏnsangun, these female physicians began to be mobilized as female entertainers. As a result, from that point on, female physicians often became entertainers during parties carried out within the palace. Such women who carried out the dual roles of physician and entertainer were referred to as yakbang kisaeng (kisaeng of the Medicine Room).

Thus, as per relationship between Dae Jang Geum and Min Jung Ho in Jewel in the Palace drama, it’s not clear if female physician allowed to marry. But even if they were allowed to marry, it’s logical that Jang Geum will not be allowed to marry with Min Jung Ho as their social status is way apart, one is ranked officer in the palace and another is a lowest class servant. Unless, of course, as the drama suggests, Dae Jang Geum been promoted and given rank in the palace.

Source: Women’s Life during Choson Dynasty

In Jewel in the Palace Korean drama series, Jang Geum has a freely romantic love relationship with Min Jung Ho, and able to study the knowledge too. However, this case should not be possible in real life during that period of time in Joseon Dynasty, unless a very exceptional exception exists.

Korea adopted Confucianism as the guiding principle for reform with the founding of the Chosôn Dynasty in 1392, in which the yangban (aristocracy) wielded tremendous power. The role of women in this society was influenced greatly by the yangban class’s attempts to establish a patriarchal family order and a Confucian-based society. For women in Korean society, this meant virtual doom. The Chosôn period is considered to be the dark age for women’s culture and women in general. The philosophy of Confucianism considered the relationship between man and woman to be the root of all human relations. The union between man and woman is regarded to be the foundation of human morality. In Confucianism, there is a hierarchical order between man and woman that is cosmologically sanctioned. This order must be maintained for the proper functioning of the human order and society. To accomplish this, human passions had to be kept in check. Thus, Confucianism drew a clear distinction between the woman’s domestic sphere and the man’s public sphere. To Confucianism, the law of nature gave women an inferior and subordinate position in all aspects of life.

During the Chosôn period, women were bound to a low and inferior social standing. Social status was governed by various means such as namjon yobi (superiority of man over woman), samjong (three obediences), and ch’ilgo (seven grounds for dismissal). The three obediences of woman stated that before marriage, the woman was to obey her father; after marriage, the woman was to obey her husband; and lastly, after the death of her husband, the woman was to obey her son. Thus, according to the ways of samjong, a woman was not allowed to make her own decisions at any point in her life. The seven injunctions of chilgo listed the means in which a daughter-in-law or wife could be disowned. Woman could be dismissed if they showed any of these seven behaviors: (1) disobedience to the parents-in-law; (2) not being able to bear a male son; (3) adultery; (4) jealousy; (5) having an incurable disease; (6) talkativeness, and (7) stealing.

Confucianism, during the time of the Chosôn Dynasty, meant a rigorous regimentation of Korean women. Women only had status and authority in the “inner” or domestic spheres of society. Confucian ideology called for specific behaviors for women. Obedience was regarded as one of the highest virtues of women. Women were honored or dishonored according to how perfectly they carried out their roles of being a virtuous wife, obedient daughter-in-law, or chaste widow. For example, women were forced to remain chaste before marriage and barred from remarrying once their husbands had passed away. As far as the marriage system was concerned, the Chosŏn era saw a move away from the old tradition of the man moving into his in-laws house following the wedding (男歸女家婚 namgwiyŏgahon), with the woman now expected to move in with her husband’s family following the marriage (親迎制度 ch΄inyŏng jedo). Moreover, wives were rigidly divided into two categories: legitimate wife (ch΄ŏ) and concubines (ch΄ŏp). This period also saw a change in the legal standing of women with regards to inheritance, as the system was altered from the practice of equal, from a gender standpoint, rights to inheritance, to one in which the eldest son became the sole inheritor.

During the Chosŏn dynasty women fell into one of the following classifications: female members of the royal family such as the queen and the king’s concubines, members of the yangban class the wives of the landed gentry, commoners, the majority of which were engaged in agriculture, women in special professions such as palace women, entertainers, shamans and physicians, and women from the lowborn class (ch’ŏnin), which usually referred to the yangban’s female slaves. The lifestyle which these women could expect was in large part dictated by the social class to which they belonged. However, despite these different lifestyles, the Chosŏn government’s woman policy remained inordinately concerned with those women belonging to the yangban class. Nevertheless, the education received by women who belonged to the ruling class did have an effect on those women who belonged to the other classes.

Source and more information:
infoKorea
Women’s Life During the Choson Dynasty

In episode 30 of the drama, Dae Jang Geum was tasked to check and audit the account books of the Royal Kitchen in the Royal Palace. There was a scene where Jang Geum was checking the account books at night. When she was keeping the books, she inserted the small secret recipt that given by her mother Lady Park Myeong Hee Park into an account book labeled 土地分配帐簿, or literally Account of Land Distribution, and was dated at 雍正三年 (the third year of Yongzheng Emperor during Manchu Qing Dynasty in China), which was around 1725 AD, about 200 years later than the generation of Jang Gum.