1 in 4 workers taking parental leave are men

More men are choosing to take paternity leave, reflecting cultural and policy changes. Gettyimagesbank

By Bahk Eun-ji

Ahn Chang-yeong, a 35-year-old office worker and father of an eight-month-old boy in Seoul, said he will begin his paternity leave early next month when his wife is scheduled to return to work after her nine months of maternity leave.

“I realized the social atmosphere and workplace culture have been changing drastically after my colleagues encouraged me to take parental leave, even though I was the first male employee on my team to do it,” Ahn said.

“It took a long time for me to make my decision, but I thought I should share the child-rearing responsibilities and prevent my wife from having to take a long-term career break,” he said.

Like Ahn, a growing number of male employees are taking time off to raise their children, mostly due to a cultural shift in which couples are now expected to raise their children together, unlike in the past when stricter gender roles put the responsibility of raising children solely on women.

The government's increased financial support for people taking parental leave has also contributed to the trend, as it helps support those taking time off to care for their children.

According to data from the Ministry of Employment and Labor, 27,423 male workers took paternity leave last year, up 23 percent from a year earlier and more than double the 12,042 in 2017.

With the increase, men accounted for 24.5 percent of all employees taking parental leave last year, or 112,040. The ratio was a huge increase from 2017's 13.4 percent.

Despite the changes, taking paternity leave is still not an easy option for many men.

Kim Ji-hoon, a 37-year-old office worker in Seoul who recently returned to work after his three-month paternity leave, said the corporate culture of his company made it difficult for him to take the leave, despite a growing number of his male peers wishing to do so.

“Paternity leave is a kind of taboo in many companies. When a male employee like me says he will use parental leave, people around him worry and ask if he's going to quit. I went through a similar situation when I requested the leave,” Kim said.

“But I thought this social and corporate culture should be improved considering the country's low fertility rate.”

Korea's total fertility rate last year ― the average number of children a woman bears in her lifetime ― is expected to stand at below 0.9 for last year. The exact data are as of yet unavailable but if estimates are correct, it would mark the third straight year that the rate has been below one.

The prolonged coronavirus pandemic here also contributed to the trend of men taking paternity leave, the labor ministry analyzed, as parents needed to take care of their children at home as the virus outbreak forced schools to shut down last year.

Lee Ju-sang, a 45-year-old office worker living in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province, said he took paternity leave for a month last May.

“Early last year (when school opening was delayed), I asked my mother to take care of my eight-year-old daughter when her school closed down and offered online classes. But as an old woman, she couldn't continue taking care of the girl for much longer due to her health, so my wife and I took family care leave in turns,” Lee said.

Family care leave was introduced last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic, under which workers could take up to 10 days of paid leave when needing to take care of children, elderly parents or ill family members.

While he spent more time with his daughter than before, Lee realized he wanted more time to spend with her.

“Strangely enough, I realized I didn't know much about her, even though she's my daughter. It was the moment I decided to take paternity leave before it's too late.”

“The social structure in which women alone are responsible for their children is one of the reasons married couples are reluctant to have children. We will support fathers to take paternity leave without any pressure so that many parents will take advantage of the changing policy,” a labor ministry official said.