Matriarchal Family Structure in Korea’s Jeju Island and its Implications for the Muslim Community in Korea

Throughout history, Korean women have enjoyed a social status and economic role equal to men. The queens of the Silla Kingdom appeared in the seventh century, and equal rights were recognised in ancestral rites and inheritance. However, from the fifteenth century, women’s position was weakened and pushed to the economic, social, and political periphery as patriarchal, patrilineal, and male preference were emphasised under the influence of neo-Confucianism. Yet, even then, an exceptional matriarchal society existed on Korea’s Jeju Island, where women took the lead in social activities including community decision-making and economic initiatives—particularly the diving women, known as haenyeo. Can Korean Muslim women today also begin to create a more female-led society in the male-centred atmosphere usually found in Muslim contexts? I argue that this is possible, through both the woman-centred traditions of Jeju and the case study of female Korean Muslim converts living on the island.