The Narratives and Images of Ancient Women in the Middle and High School 〈Korean History〉 Textbooks Based on the 2015 Revised National Curriculum

This article seeks improvement strategies by analyzing the descriptions and images of women in middle and high school ‘Korean History’ textbook of 2015’s Revision Curriculum. As a result of analyzing secondary school textbooks, gender inequality was found to be severe in quantitative terms. In addition, the content is focused on mens’ experiences and viewpoints, and it appears to be in a gender-discriminatory perception.
This phenomenon may be partly because women are marginalized from historical sources, but above all, middle and high school ‘Korean history’ textbooks are centered on narrating the political history of the nation. Moreover, descriptions and images of women were further reduced as the proportion of pre-modern history in high school was reduced according to the serialization plan.
In order to improve the description and image of ancient women in ‘Korean history’ textbooks, it is necessary to break away from the nation-centered political history narrative system. It is also necessary to consciously consider women’s role in history. Finally, it is necessary to publicize the narrative direction and the content of ancient women’s history from the stage of establishing the curriculum policy, then establish a writing plan, so that it can be reflected in the educational process.