Breaking Past the Boundaries of Either/Or by Lynn Lee
My mother graduated from Yonsei University, one that is considered among the most prestigious universities in Korea. Afterwards, she enjoyed a successful career as a public relations director for an international make-up giant, and later as a lecturer at a university in Hong Kong, all the while raising three children. My mother is now a homemaker by choice.
Not many Korean women in my mother’s generation had the opportunity to live the life that she has lived, pursuing both a profession and a family. Being a wife in Korea comes with a slew of responsibilities ranging from housekeeping, cooking, cleaning, mending, caring for in-laws, and motherhood. To most women in Korea, career and family still have an “either/or” relationship, both demanding overwhelming time commitments. My mother broke the norm. One of the key reasons she was able to do so was because she moved to Hong Kong soon after I, the eldest, was born.
Ever since I can remember, the Sumaya family has played a large role in my life. Bernadette Sumaya, whom my siblings and I lovingly referred to as Auntie Berna, was a Filipina domestic worker who took care of our home. She cooked, cleaned the house, and played with us. When she returned to the Philippines, her sisters Auntie Analy and Auntie Mira came to work for our family instead. The presence of these three women allowed my mother to push forward in her career endeavors without fear of leaving her children neglected.
Hiring domestic helpers is a common practice in Hong Kong. In South Korea, however, it is much less so. Hiring a nanny in Korea is difficult, partially due to the government’s stringent policies against the employment of foreign workers in the service sector. Only nannies who are ethnically Korean can be legally employed, and demand for them is high. The expense of hiring a nanny in Seoul is multiple times higher than in Hong Kong and can sometimes exceed the salary of a working wife, making it impractical for many households.
The biggest challenge facing women in Korea today is that child care remains an obstacle to women reaching their goals. Despite efforts made by the government to assist mothers, Korea still ranks low on the OECD index for public spending on family benefits; childcare is expensive, and the number of state-run daycares is not sufficient.
Our president has promised to open more daycare centres and provide larger childcare subsidies, but this may not be enough to address the hundreds of children waitlisted at each centre. To reduce the strain on mothers, we can open our service sector to migrant workers. The influx of
foreign workers could bring down the cost of childcare support, allowing women to re-enter the labour force more easily. According to Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, two Nobel Prize-winning economists, the immigration of these workers could help women and other members of society scale up to higher value-added jobs. At the same time, the continuation of women’s careers may also help reduce Korea’s gender pay gap, which lies over 30%. In Korea, 80% of women currently do not return to their jobs following maternity leave, and the IMF attributes this non-regular employment pattern of women as a key factor behind the glass ceiling.
In the long run, however, we must confront the source of the problem: Korean society’s view of child care. As described in the internationally acclaimed novel “Kim Ji-Young, Born 1984”, our society still deems childcare a wife’s responsibility. A cultural shift towards the perception of shared parenthood is vital. Some supportive government legislation has already been put in place to encourage this — for example, fathers with young children can now apply for reduced working hours without salary cuts. However, only a small portion of fathers are taking advantage of such schemes. Clearly, the empowerment of women entails constant discussion and further progression. I have confidence that, through an increased call to attention on gender parity and an equitable balance of parenthood, participation in these government-led policies will increase.
It is time for Korea to finally leave behind the traditional gender roles of a bygone society. It may take patience, but I believe that the ongoing conversation and dynamic nature of our country is a sign of positive change to follow. It is imperative that the societal norm continues to change to allow more Korean women to decide to pursue both career and family, rather than accepting the fate of either career or family.