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By Bahk Eun-ji
A growing number of fathers here are taking parental leave, with more than one in five of the parents taking childcare leave being male, as more are seeing parenting as a job done by mothers and fathers together.
According to recent data from Statistics Korea, 169,345 workers went on parental leave last year. It was a 3.7 percent rise from 2019 and a 2.3-fold increase compared to 2010.
Of them, 38,511 or 22.7 percent were fathers. It was the first time that the ratio of fathers has exceeded 20 percent. Back in 2010, the ratio of fathers among the total people taking childcare leave was 2.7 percent.
An elementary school teacher in Yangyang, Gangwon Province, who wished to be identified only by his surname Ryu, was one such father. He returned to work in September after six months of parental leave.
"When another teacher in my school became the first father to take the leave two years ago, many colleagues asked him why he did so instead of his wife," Ryu said.
"But when I took the leave, things were much better, and many male teachers now take parental leave for at least six months each."
Kim Chang-young, who returned to work in November after completing five months of parental leave, shared his positive experience with taking parental leave.
"During the leave, I could spend time with my family on weekdays, and I thought it was good to take the leave because I could focus on my two sons, even though we didn't do anything too special, just going to a small park near home," Kim said.
However, statistics and male workers' experiences show there are still many restrictions on paternal leave and negative perceptions on such fathers.
"I often felt pressured by the prejudices of people who see fathers like me, who actively participate in childrearing, as merely idle or incompetent," Ryu said.
The data also showed there is a big gap in workers' use of parental leave according to the size of the company.
More than 68 percent of fathers on parental leave were working at large companies with 300 or more employees, as those employers have relatively improved systems for childcare leave and substitute workers, while only 3.5 percent of fathers taking leave worked at companies with fewer than four workers. The ratios were not much different for mothers, with 62 percent and 5 percent, respectively.
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Another factor making fathers hesitant to take paternity leave was the income loss during the leave, because in Korea, the wage gap between genders is huge ― female workers' average income was only 64.1 percent of male workers last year, according to the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family.
Kim pointed out that the amount of childcare allowance provided by the government during the leave is too small.
"Assuming that the monthly wage was 3 million won ($2,515), 100 percent of the wage is provided for three months, but from the fourth month, you will receive about 1.1 million won. At this rate, it requires a lot of courage for male workers to decide on parental leave," he said.
Kim Jin-wook, a professor at Sogang University's Graduate School of Public Policy, also pointed out that one of the reasons men do not take parental leave is the reduced income.
"People with higher education and higher salaries take parental leave more easily than those with smaller salaries. In households with small incomes, wives often oppose the husbands' taking parental leave because it could hurt their livelihood," Kim said, calling for an increase in the government's allowance during childcare leave.
The Korea Institute of Child Care and Education also pointed out in its recent report the difficulties male employees face using parental leave.
"A positive parenting culture can be achieved only when a gender-equal labor market and workplace culture are created together based on the expansion of male workers' participation in parenting," Kwon Mi-kyung, a researcher at the institute who led the study, wrote in the report.
She called on companies to take relevant action, saying, "There should be a widespread perception that creating a positive parenting culture at work will eventually benefit companies by strengthening workers' capabilities and attracting quality personnel."
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