Good Wife, Wise Mother

"Good Wife, Wise Mother" is a phrase representing a traditional ideal for womanhood in East Asia, including Japan, China and Korea. First appearing in Japan, the four-character phrase "Good Wife, Wise Mother" (Japanese: 良妻賢母, Hepburn: ryōsai kenbo) was coined by Nakamura Masanao in a speech on March 16, 1875. Even though the Meiji government was redefining the role of women to that of one only in the home, some women were still used for manual labor outside the home. "Good Wife, Wise Mother" accompanied the existing phrase "wealthy country and strong army" (fukoku kyohei).  The side by side usages of the phrases was reflected in the transformation of the Imperial family's image, where the Empress would be much more involved in a motherly/ceremonial fashion while having no actual political influence, while the Emperor would possess absolute power. Although the philosophy of "Good Wife, Wise Mother" declined in Japan after World War II, feminist historians have argued it existed there as recently as the 1980s.

First appearing in Japan, the concept evolved and found its way to Korea where it was used by the Imperial Japanese Empire to impose Japanese cultural standards on occupied Korea. In Korea, the philosophy of "Good Wife, Wise Mother" was influenced by already present Confucian ideals as well as Protestant religious teachings from the West. These intersections of beliefs created Korea's own version of "Good Wife, Wise Mother" (Ryōsai Kenbo) called Hyonmo Yangcho. The impact of the concept can still be seen today in Korea as well as in the testimonies of Korean immigrants in the US.

This traditional view of women, as both "Wise Wife, Good Mother" and "Wise Mother, Good Wife" (Chinese: 賢母良妻/賢妻良母; pinyin: xián mǔ liáng qī/xián qī liáng mǔ), was similarly shared in Chinese society throughout the early 1900s. On numerous occasions, it was criticized by Chinese academics such as Lu Xun and Zhu Ziqing.^{[citation needed]}