Childcare Still 70% Done by Moms... Couples' Sense of Equality Remains High

Dad Participates Most in 'Playing with Children'
"Securing Childcare Time Key to Positive Change in Parenting Culture"

A child is holding a toy chosen at the toy library set up in the Ogin Childcare Harmony Center in Jongno-gu, Seoul, which opened on April 5. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jung-wan] Parents raising infants and elementary school students hold an egalitarian view between spouses, but in reality, wives bear most of the childcare responsibilities.

According to the report "Diagnosis of Childcare Culture at Home and Creation of Positive Childcare Culture" by the Korea Institute of Child Care and Education on the 14th, a survey conducted in May last year targeting 1,228 parents of infants and elementary school students nationwide showed that when the total childcare responsibility is considered 100, the share of childcare on weekdays was 70.9% for wives and 29.1% for husbands.

On weekends, the husband's share increased to 42.2%, with the wife’s share at 57.8%, but women still played a larger role. Husbands’ self-assessed childcare share was about 10 percentage points higher than what wives thought. Wives responded that husbands’ childcare share was 24.1%, while husbands rated themselves at 34.0%.

The survey respondents were almost evenly split, with 52.3% from dual-income families and 47.7% from non-dual-income families.

Meanwhile, regarding perceptions of spousal roles, the statement "Wives and husbands should have equal decision-making power in all household matters" scored 4.1 out of 5, indicating a high level of agreement. The statement "There are separate tasks for men and women in housework and childcare" scored 2.2, showing low agreement, suggesting an overall awareness of gender equality.

These results can be interpreted as couples recognizing the need to share childcare responsibilities, but in reality, wives take on more roles. Especially, when looking at husbands’ participation in childcare activities (on a 5-point scale), participation was highest in playing with children (4.0), compared to school drop-off and pick-up (3.0), learning support (3.3), and household chores for caregiving such as meal preparation, laundry, and cleaning (3.5).

When asked about the difficulties in creating a positive childcare culture, the highest response was "Differences in philosophy and attitudes toward childcare between spouses and family" (30.1%). This was followed by "Lack of time to devote to childcare" (27.2%), "Insufficient recognition of the difficulties of childcare among spouses and family" (15.6%), "Differences in opinions on childcare sharing and responsibility among spouses and family" (15%), and "Burden regarding the use of parental leave" (12.1%).

The report pointed out, "Compared to the past, fathers’ participation in childcare has increased and their roles have expanded," adding, "Customized educational programs are needed to help fathers acquire childcare knowledge and skills in line with their changing roles." It also stated, "There is consensus that securing time for parents to raise children is key to positive changes in the home childcare culture," and emphasized the need for the government to maintain support for flexible work systems such as staggered working hours and autonomous commuting, which have seen increased adoption since the COVID-19 pandemic."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.