Husband is lazy to take care of children, wife does not want to have more children in Korea

South Korea is one of the three countries with the lowest percentage of men involved in parenting, next to Japan and Poland, and has the lowest fertility rates, according to a study by a team from the Bureau of International Economic Research. American family.

The researchers investigated the relationship between shared child-rearing responsibilities, women’s participation in the labor force and fertility rates in OECD member countries. Chosun Ilbo.

Research shows that countries with an active participation of women in the workforce see increased birth rates.

The researchers also found that education level was not related to women’s desire to have children.

Meanwhile, countries with low male participation in parenting recorded a downward trend in fertility. Specifically, countries with a high percentage of male parenting participation, such as Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and the United States, have birth rates of 1.8 children or more, while countries with a higher percentage of men Low parenting support fathers such as the Czech Republic, Japan, Korea, Poland and Slovakia only recorded a trend of fertility rates below 1.5.

The report uses data from 2005 to 2015. Since then, South Korea’s birth rate has dropped even further, to 0.81 children per woman in 2021, making it a member state. The first OECD where the birth rate fell below 1.

The researchers said that in countries with low male participation in parenting, women are more likely to not have a second child. Besides, balancing a woman’s career and family is also very important to promote fertility. The report points out four decisive factors: family policy, father’s cooperation, no longer strict social standards and a flexible labor market.

A survey by the Korean Ministry of Gender Equality and Family in 2021 found that a stay-at-home mother with a child under 12 years old spends 3.7 hours a day taking care of her child, compared with just 1.2 hours for a domestic worker. Father. In households where both husband and wife work, women spend 1.4 hours while men spend 0.7 hours.

About 68.9% of households with only one working person said that the mother usually takes care of most of the housework and childcare, while this figure is 60% even in working families. .

“Due to traditional attitudes towards parenting and housework, women face an additional burden. This makes them not interested in having children,” said Park Sun-young of the Korean Women’s Development Institute.

According to Zing