The woman appointed to try to reverse the world’s lowest birth rates knows better than most why billion-dollar campaigns to encourage South Korea’s female populace to procreate have failed — she is among the millions who have chosen to remain childless in the face of traditionalist social expectations.
A history professor at a Seoul university before joining the government, South Korean Minister of Gender Equality and Family Chung Hyun-back said she remained single to pursue her professional ambitions.
Entrenched gender roles at home and a workaholic culture are pushing the next generation of South Korean women to follow suit, the 64-year-old said.
“It was extremely difficult — if not impossible — to juggle an academic career while getting married and raising children,” she said, pointing out that many female professors in their 50s and 60s are single.
Rapid economic growth over several decades has seen South Korea’s GDP boom, but birth rates have gone in the opposite direction.
The country’s fertility rate — an average number of babies women are expected to have in their lifetime — stood at 1.17 in 2016, the lowest in the world and compared with a global average of 2.4. It is set to fall to a record low of 1.07 for last year after the number of newborns sank to less than 400,000 for the first time.
The trend, coupled with the rapid aging of its 50 million people, casts a pall over the nation’s future — its population is projected to start shrinking in 2050.
Experts blame sky-high housing prices, the costs of raising children and fears over unemployment.
However, Chung said: “For years, we have overlooked the real culprit of the problem — our country’s vast gender disparity and inhumanely-long working hours.”
South Korea has the second-highest average working hours in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, but women are still expected to be children’s primary caregiver, whether they work or not.
Many firms prefer to drive pregnant staff to resign rather than pay for maternity leave, and those who return to work are seen as having damaged their career prospects.
“Under such unfair circumstances, young women usually choose their career, not marriage and childbirth,” Chung said.
The phenomenon has been dubbed a “birth strike.”
A recent survey found that 68 percent of female college students intended to marry — compared with 80 percent for men.
Dual burdens at home and work were the top concern cited by the women who did not intend to marry.
Even in dual-income households, women spend more than three hours on household chores and childcare per day on average — compared with a mere 44 minutes by men.
At his New Year news conference, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said his government would reduce working hours and “strive to build a society where women can still lead their life, pursuing their own values when they get married, give birth and raise children.”
The government hopes that by changing the wider social atmosphere, private firms would be encouraged to follow suit.
Chung conceded it would be a challenge to change the view that “childcare is women’s work,” but said: “Our country’s future may depend on whether we can break these social customs.”
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