Abstract

By examining women’s petitioning practice during the Chosŏn, this paper aims to show how women’s legal practice allows us to reconsider the Confucian gender norms such as the Thrice Following and the Doctrine of Spheres, inner and outer. Through capitalizing on the right to petition, women demonstrated as legal agents of negotiations who simultaneously embodied and defied Confucian gender norms. By examining Madam Yun’s case in detail, the paper demonstrates how she challenged the two pillars of Confucian gender norms and how the state construed gender norms not as fixed but as a fluid entity that could be contested and negotiated between the state and subjects.