Women of the Joseon Dynasty era(1392-1910) were not free at all. They were not simply able to go outside freely, could not do what they wanted to do or become what they hoped to become as they wish. Simply put, the equal rights and opportunities were not available or allowed to literally almost all of women in the Joseon Dynasty period. It was a male-dominated, feudal system-oriented society.

Women were not able to be educated at formal institutions, neither. Only men, especially men of high social class and middle social class, were able to learn at formal organizations.

Almost no families of high social class permitted their female family members to learn even at home. Furthermore, sons or daughters of concubines wedded to men of noble class were not able to receive formal education.

Despite this social inequality, some women with a good family background or daughters of concubines got help from their father or brother or husband who was very open-minded, and they learned Chinese characters and classics. They left literary works of their own and even formed a poet group.

Kim Guem-won, Pak Juk-seo, and Imyun-ji-dang are some of the very representative woman writers of the Joseon Dynasty who were born and raised in Wonju. Besides, Pak Kyongni was said to carry the legacy into the modern literature but broke the conventional idea of woman literature that was created from the gender inequality of the past.

Kim Guem-won(1817- death year unknown) traveled all the way to Mount Kumgang and wrote poems when she was only 14 years old. She represents Travel Literature as well as Woman Literature. She even established a group of woman poets, which was very sensational under the social condition of the Joseon Dynasty.

Pak Juk-seo(1817-1851, presumed), the daughter of a concubine, was a poet. She showed her astonishing talent as a poet from 10 years old. She joined a poetry group consisting of woman writers established and managed by Kim Guem-won and left anthologies of poetry.

Imyun-ji-dang(1721-1793) learned with the help of her brother that was a scholar of Neo-Confucianism and was posthumously recognized as a great Neo-Confucianism scholar with the works she left.

Pak Kyongni(1926-2008) began to live in Wonju in 1980 and in Wonju, she completed her 26 year-long, landmark, full 20 books of Toji that is said to represent the Korean literature, an epic saga of family history reflecting the modern history of Korea(1897-1945).

Representative woman writers of the Joseon Dynasty, Kim Guem-won, Pak Juk-seo, and Imyun-ji-dang, who were all from Wonju, tried to break free of Confucianism that greatly influenced the country for five hundred years, using the literature in the male-centered society. They treated themselves with dignity and respect, and they also expressed their sentiment of sorrows, pains, or hope of their life with the literature though they were underserved and underrepresented.