By Miliann Kang
I have heard many stories of women working hard to graduate from college and get good jobs, then being pushed out of those jobs by the competing demands of work and family.
My research brought me last summer to Korea, where all workers struggle with work-life balance, but this hits particularly hard for working mothers. These issues are pressing in many countries, but are particularly challenging for Korean women. In response, this month Korea implemented a new law that limits the workweek to 52 hours, down from the previous 68.
This marks a significant improvement but is still much longer than most other countries. Thus, it is only one piece of a much larger and challenging puzzle to create a better work-life balance for all workers _ but especially for working mothers.
One mother who worked for an advertising company commented, "More than just cutting down the number of hours, it is important to have control and flexibility over work. I would rather be able to go home and have dinner with my family and complete my work in the evening, than just work fewer hours."
Another mother shared that the problem is not just work hours but the expectation that work must always come first. She tried to continue working at a large tech company for five years after having a child, but ended up feeling criticized and pushed out. "Even if you work long hours and complete the work, if you are a mother, you are seen as less committed," she told me.
South Korea is ranked 118th among 144 countries in terms of gender equality according to the World Economic Forum's 2017 Global Gender Gap report. Korea's gender pay gap is the highest in the OECD, with women earning only 63 percent of what men earn. Only 56.2 percent of women in Korea are in the workforce and many withdraw when they have children. The birthrate of 1.05 in 2017, the lowest ever recorded and one of the lowest in the world, is a constant source of social concern. While many assume that women's investment in their careers lowers the birthrate, the opposite is true in many developed countries, where support for women's labor force participation increases the number of children born.
Thus, while this new law is a positive step, it has its limitations and must be followed up with other support. It only impacts companies with over 300 employees and public officials, not smaller companies for this year. Without accompanying workload adjustments, many workers will feel pressure to squeeze the same amount of work into fewer hours.
Lessons can be learned from the successes and failures of measures implemented in 2004 to reduce the workweek to five days. At first, many companies worried about productivity simply shifted hours to later in the evening rather than actually reducing them. However, over time, workplaces adjusted to respecting workers' personal time.
Other concerns center around negative impact on wages. Rather than just simply limiting the number of hours, policies must guarantee a living wage without workers having to put in significant overtime.
The new law will inevitably experience growing pains as it is implemented. Current enforcement measures include up to two years in prison or fines of up to 20 million won ($17,945) for business owners who demand more hours. Such punitive approaches can often backfire, as many workers fear being labeled troublemakers if they complain or report non-compliance. Thus, enforcement must be balanced with positive incentives to create more supportive workplace cultures, in general, but especially for women.
One mother shared both optimism and skepticism about the new law. "I guess some companies still want their employees to work overtime, and will fake their computer system or whatever, you know. But the new system will settle down eventually. I hear from some friends who work at companies that actually reduced their working hours, and they seem very happy with the change. They say they now have some time for themselves. If their children are young, they can use that time for childrearing. I really hope this becomes a new culture in our country."
Setting a limit on work hours is an important measure for improving work-life balance, but many more changes are needed in workplaces, government and society, particularly to support working mothers in Korea. These include affordable and high-quality childcare, ability to utilize existing childcare leave and flexible care time policies without penalty, more equal division of domestic work between men and women, and changes to ideologies that say women should be mainly devoted to and responsible for raising children. As the mothers above shared, the benefits of these efforts are multifold, including better and healthier workers, families and communities.
Miliann Kang is associate professor of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a Fulbright Senior Scholar at Ewha Womans University. She will give a presentation related to this research at the Royal Asiatic Society Korea Branch on July 24 at 7:30 p.m. at the Somerset Palace. Non-members pay 10,000 won and students pay 5,000 won.
 |
My research brought me last summer to Korea, where all workers struggle with work-life balance, but this hits particularly hard for working mothers. These issues are pressing in many countries, but are particularly challenging for Korean women. In response, this month Korea implemented a new law that limits the workweek to 52 hours, down from the previous 68.
This marks a significant improvement but is still much longer than most other countries. Thus, it is only one piece of a much larger and challenging puzzle to create a better work-life balance for all workers _ but especially for working mothers.
One mother who worked for an advertising company commented, "More than just cutting down the number of hours, it is important to have control and flexibility over work. I would rather be able to go home and have dinner with my family and complete my work in the evening, than just work fewer hours."
Another mother shared that the problem is not just work hours but the expectation that work must always come first. She tried to continue working at a large tech company for five years after having a child, but ended up feeling criticized and pushed out. "Even if you work long hours and complete the work, if you are a mother, you are seen as less committed," she told me.
South Korea is ranked 118th among 144 countries in terms of gender equality according to the World Economic Forum's 2017 Global Gender Gap report. Korea's gender pay gap is the highest in the OECD, with women earning only 63 percent of what men earn. Only 56.2 percent of women in Korea are in the workforce and many withdraw when they have children. The birthrate of 1.05 in 2017, the lowest ever recorded and one of the lowest in the world, is a constant source of social concern. While many assume that women's investment in their careers lowers the birthrate, the opposite is true in many developed countries, where support for women's labor force participation increases the number of children born.
Thus, while this new law is a positive step, it has its limitations and must be followed up with other support. It only impacts companies with over 300 employees and public officials, not smaller companies for this year. Without accompanying workload adjustments, many workers will feel pressure to squeeze the same amount of work into fewer hours.
Lessons can be learned from the successes and failures of measures implemented in 2004 to reduce the workweek to five days. At first, many companies worried about productivity simply shifted hours to later in the evening rather than actually reducing them. However, over time, workplaces adjusted to respecting workers' personal time.
Other concerns center around negative impact on wages. Rather than just simply limiting the number of hours, policies must guarantee a living wage without workers having to put in significant overtime.
The new law will inevitably experience growing pains as it is implemented. Current enforcement measures include up to two years in prison or fines of up to 20 million won ($17,945) for business owners who demand more hours. Such punitive approaches can often backfire, as many workers fear being labeled troublemakers if they complain or report non-compliance. Thus, enforcement must be balanced with positive incentives to create more supportive workplace cultures, in general, but especially for women.
One mother shared both optimism and skepticism about the new law. "I guess some companies still want their employees to work overtime, and will fake their computer system or whatever, you know. But the new system will settle down eventually. I hear from some friends who work at companies that actually reduced their working hours, and they seem very happy with the change. They say they now have some time for themselves. If their children are young, they can use that time for childrearing. I really hope this becomes a new culture in our country."
Setting a limit on work hours is an important measure for improving work-life balance, but many more changes are needed in workplaces, government and society, particularly to support working mothers in Korea. These include affordable and high-quality childcare, ability to utilize existing childcare leave and flexible care time policies without penalty, more equal division of domestic work between men and women, and changes to ideologies that say women should be mainly devoted to and responsible for raising children. As the mothers above shared, the benefits of these efforts are multifold, including better and healthier workers, families and communities.
Miliann Kang is associate professor of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a Fulbright Senior Scholar at Ewha Womans University. She will give a presentation related to this research at the Royal Asiatic Society Korea Branch on July 24 at 7:30 p.m. at the Somerset Palace. Non-members pay 10,000 won and students pay 5,000 won.
![[INTERVIEW] North Korean defectors bear brunt of remittance scams](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/75c261156ac7415fad92dc1d7c1b30cf.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
![[INTERVIEW] Foreign-born entertainers seek to revolutionize local industry](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/4a6b2bd3d23044d699dee3c5bb956863.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
