鍾佳伶老師的歷程檔案

論文名稱	試論宋代乳母的來源
發表日期	2014-05-30

[摘要] :
宋代乳母的來源以聘僱為主，包括皇室、政府社會救濟機構、士人與富裕人家，大多聘僱乳母哺養幼兒。宋人聘僱乳母經過女儈媒介，同時聘僱雙方訂有契約，由此可知，宋代的乳母已經走向職業化。宋代乳母職業化的原因，主要是因為宋代經濟發達，從事商業與手工業的人數較前代增加許多，僱佣的現象極為普遍，影響所及，婦女也開始走出家庭，參與職業活動。然而有些儒者認為聘僱乳母，造成乳母必須放棄哺育自己的親生小孩，甚至還可能導致乳母家庭離散，有違天理人倫，因此無法認同時人聘僱乳母的行徑。

[英文摘要] :
In Sung dynasty, wet-nurses were employed by wealthy families, governmental and private social welfare charities, and the imperial family. They were introduced by female agents, and had to sign contracts with their employers. By that time, wet-nurse had formally become an occupation. The main reason of that was more and more people started doing business and hand craft business due to the prosperous economy in Sung dynasty, and it was very common to hire people. Therefore, women walked out of their family and join in the work force. Such phenomenon, nevertheless, was objected by Confucian scholars because wet-nurses had to give up nurturing their own children, or even stayed away from their family. They opposed this act for that it was against feudal ethics and natural human relations.