一般認為 1920 年代為台灣進入現代的起點。依照台灣民報系列報章雜誌的報導，當時的新知識分子普遍認為文化主義為第一次世界大戰後的世界潮流；其中，他們最為重視民族自決、男女同權、勞資協助等時代潮流，同時也接受西方啟蒙精神和現代價值，以引導一般民眾的自覺，進而進入現代國家之林。不過，以人的理性和歷史進步為核心內容的現代性，伴隨著殖民資本主義的推行，加上台灣社會封建性的殘存，在男女同權和女性解放問題上，呈現出複雜多重的壓抑狀態。 　　而這些狀況，在當時韓國的女性問題上，也有非常類似的發展。日據時期韓國小說所呈現的女性問題，大多來自傳統封建主義的女性差別，加上由於殖民資本主義的剝削性質所引起。當時處於社會底層的女性，在殖民者、資本階級、男性構成的社會結構中，受到民族、階級、性別的三重壓抑；而受過教育的新女性，想要在一般家庭男女有別的封建觀念，以及在不夠成熟或開放的社會中，施展理想抱負，或者探索自我、實現自我，都是一條至為艱難的道路。 　　本文以日據時期台灣和韓國的小說為對象，考察同在日本殖民地處境中兩國的女性問題。文章分為社會底層女性和新女性兩個方面展開討論，並從封建性和現代性的衝突、殖民資本主義帶來的價值觀等多重關係當中，探索現代初期兩國女性的處境和經驗樣態。相信這些考察對共有傳統儒家價值觀，並於現代初期同樣經歷過日本殖民統治和資本主義經驗的東亞國家，在其女性問題的了解上，可以帶來一些助益。

It is commonly believed that the 1920s was the beginning of modernization in Taiwan. Neo-intellectuals of the period generally believed that pan-culturalism was the global trend after World War 1.They gave high importance to the trends of the time such as the self­determination of nations, equal rights for men and women, and labor­management cooperation, while at the same time accepting the spirit of the Enlightenment and modern values from the West to guide the general public towards a self-awakening. Modernism, however, with its core principles of human rationality and historical advancement, had developed a complex system of checks on the rights of women and the women's liberation movement. This occurred against the backdrop of colonial capitalism, and was compounded by lingering characteristics of feudalism in Taiwanese society. Female issues revealed in Korean novels during the Japanese Occupation were in large part also the result of female discrimination in traditional feudal society and were worsened by the exploitative nature of colonial capitalism. Women, at the bottom of the social strata, were subject to ethnic, class, and gender oppression in a society composed of colonialists, capitalists, and males. Educated new women would find it extremely difficult if they wished to pursue ideas and dreams, explore themselves, or master their own fate in a family system that was confined by feudalistic gender discrimination and a society that was neither mature nor open enough to accept their independence. This Study has chosen Taiwanese and Korean novels published during the Japanese Occupation in order to examine female issues in the two countries under the same situation of Japanese colonial control. This study focuses it's discussion on two groups, women of the underclass and new women, and explores the position and experiences of women at the beginning of modernization in the two countries from perspectives of multiple relations, such as the conflict between feudalism and modernism and the values brought by colonial capitalism.