Korean women are generally believed to be superior to their counterparts. From independence movement martyrs during Japanese colonial rule, Olympic archers and shooters, to LPGA players, Korean women proved themselves as being outstanding. But what were they doing during the male-dominated Joseon Dynasty? This book is about the various cultural products left by women, such as poems, paintings, calligraphy works, and embroidery. Beautiful pictures and well-edited contents help readers grasp better the Korean traditional woman culture. Reading the works of Kisaeng (Geisha in Japan) is especially amusing, as they were more frank in expressing their emotions than the Yangban aristocrats were. The book also tries to reconstruct "physical environment" of the past through art objects, giving readers some insights into what the society then looked like. The author is a professor of art history at the Academy of Korean Studies. She is the wife of former Foreign Affairs Minister Han Sung-joo and studied at the University of California, Berkeley, and Princeton.

Acknowledgements
Introduction

1. Changing Social Status of Women through the Ages : The Three kingdoms to the Late Choson Period
1) Women before the Choson Dynasty
2) Women during the Choson Dynasty

2. How Women Lived in Pre-modern Korea : A Reconstructed Physical Environments through Art Objects
1) Women's Domain within the Domestic Architecture of the 17th Century
2) Women's Attire
3) Ladies' Personal Ornaments

3. Women Artists, Poets, and Scholars
1) Sin Saimdang(1504-1551) and her Family Circle of Painters
2) Ho Nansorhon(1563-1589) : A poet-painter in Agony 
3) Hwang Chini(active mid-16th cent.) : A Brilliant Kinyo Poet
4) Yi Pinghogak(1759-1824) : A Lady of Encyclopedic Knowledge
5) Im Yunjidang(1721-1793) : A Confucian Scholar
6) Chukyang(active mid-19th cent) : A talented Kinyo Painter

4. Needles and Thread(ch'imson) as a Means of Expression
1) Embroidery before the Choson Period
2) Embroidery of the Choson Period

5. In Pursuit of Elegance : Traditional Korean Toiletry 
1) Evidence of Cosmetics before the Choson Period
2) The Choson Dynasty

Epilogue
Appendix
Bibliography
List of Figures
Glossary and Index of Names and Terms