Abstract

This article delves into the subject of women and work as applied to the female divers (haenyŏ) of Jeju Island in Korea. It supports the development theory critiques about women and confirms Boserup's seminal study. Remarkably, the Jeju haenyŏ have been economically productive in the Confucian culture of Korea, but their labor processes have been conditioned by economic as well as non-economic factors. The article analyzes the effects of gender in the rise and fall of this women's working group. Even though the Jeju haenyŏ have had a relatively higher economic status in the family and community from the colonial period onward, the organization of their production has been closely interrelated with the gendered cultural context. Likewise, the decline of the haenyŏ's diving is associated with the further development of capitalism and the reordered gender division of labor.

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