By Kim Se-jeong
Husbands spend more time doing domestic chores and childcare at home, but the amount of time is still far short of that spent by wives, according to a survey released Monday.
The Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, an institute under the prime minister’s office, said the average time husbands spent on domestic chores grew from 19 minutes per day in 1999 to 26 minutes in 2009. In 1999, women spent 231 minutes daily on household chores on average and 204 minutes in 2009, more than seven times longer than the men’s average time.
When it comes to childcare, wives spent 84 minutes each day in 1999 and 93 minutes in 2009. Men spent 13 minutes in 1999 but 20 minutes in 2009.
The institute drew the analysis from data from Statistics Korea, which conducts an annual survey on how working husbands and working wives spend their time at home.
“The survey shows that society is changing, but change is being made very slowly,” a researcher surnamed Shin, who authored the report on division of labor at home, said. “The trend that women bear most of the burden contributes to the low birth rate.” Korea’s average birthrate was 1.19 per couple in 2013, the lowest among OECD member countries.
In traditional Korean society men were usually not involved in household chores and childcare. Yet, industrialization ushered in changes, pushing women to work to earn a living, and that created the need to help women at home. However, as the study shows, wives still bear most of the responsibility for maintaining a home.
The poor division of labor at home can lead to quarreling for couples, which can result in divorce. The peak for an overwhelming load of housework for women is holidays such as Lunar New Year’s Day (Seollal), or Korean Thanksgiving (Chuseok).
The institute said the time men spent in the kitchen more than doubled between 1999 and 2009. It grew from three minutes to seven minutes. Cooking-related work is the biggest chore for wives. During the same time, women’s time in the kitchen decreased ― from 125 minutes in 1999 to 110 minutes to 2009.
Also, the study showed the time spent for childcare grew for both men and women ― men from 13 to 20 minutes and women from 84 minutes to 93 minutes.
Wives spent most of the time feeding, cleaning and dressing children ― 51 minutes per day ― while men spent the time helping children with their school work ― 11 minutes.
“Despite the government policy to assist childcare, parents continue to spend more time on childcare. It may require the government to review if their policies are at work,” according to Shin.