明代戶籍的研究長期忽略婦女，近年來零星的史料與研究均發現明代戶籍登記實包含「女口」，然女口登錄的相關制度問題仍有進一步探究的空間。本文梳理明代戶籍簿冊中的女口，加入前朝女口的登記做比較，試圖長時段觀察女性與國家簿冊登記的關係，以了解明代政府如何將婦女置於編戶齊民的體系，期能補充明代政治制度史研究忽略的性別視角，以及婦女∕性別史研究罕觸及的制度面向。
本研究發現，明代黃冊承於元代戶籍冊登錄方式，以性別為主要區隔，而非家內尊卑排序；又將婦女細分為大、小口，且取消奴婢的登記。大、小口之別，基本上以已婚或15歲為界，其登記可為戶口食鹽之參考，而民間為逃稅亦有隱匿女口的情形。明代官方登載女口清楚記錄了姓名、年齡，可見是對婦女個別的人身識別與控制，然此舉同時也是一種肯認，成為未來司法判別的根據。

Women have been ignored in the research of household and population control in Ming China. Recently, some household registration records from the Yuan and Ming dynasties have been discovered. Scholars could use this new evidence to do research on women in the household system. This paper aims to undertake a long-term investigation of how women were included in the state governance over a long period in the Ming dynasty, using household registration records, local gazetteers, etc., as the main source materials. The author wishes to challenge the past researches on the history of Chinese political and economic institutions, which simply overlooked the existence of women. Also, it will offer the study of gender history a new approach, from the institutional perspective. 
The Yellow Register of the Ming dynasty continued to use the registration form of the Household Register of the Yuan dynasty, categorizing family members by gender, rather than by the hierarchical order. Moreover, it subdivided women into “old” and “young”, and canceled the registration of maidservants. The distinction between the “old” and “young” women was based on whether they were married or 15 years old, and their registration could be used as a reference for the salt rationing tax in the household accounts. In order to evade taxes, the women population could be hidden from the registration. In addition, the official registration of the women population clearly recorded the name and age of each woman. Perhaps it may be seen as a personal identification and control of women in Ming China, but at the same time it offered a sort of recognition, since the registered women could provide evidence for subsequent judicial judgments.

戶籍; 女口; 黃冊; 戶口食鹽; 性別

household registration; yellow registers; women; salt rationing tax; 
state governing; gender