Urgent need for policy support for working mothers
Would transfer to flextime if employment guaranteed

 

Korean working moms have pointed out on the inadequate policy support in helping working mothers juggle jobs, household work, and child care all at once. 90.9% of working moms have expressed distressed due to this situation and have shown a low 58.4% of self-esteem. 68.1% have also stated that if permanent position were to be guaranteed, they would chose a flextime work schedule. However, 64.7% of those who responded positively to a flextime work said that the major problem associated with flextime is a lower salary than that of a full-time employment. The rest said promotion discrimination (14. 7%) and difficulties in returning back to full-time employment (7.9 %).

The following analysis is based on a suffering index scale of 1 to 5, low to high. 

Research has been conducted under different categories of household, workplace, social life, and private life. The total working moms' suffering index has fallen 0.04 points from last year to 3.29. However, like last year, suffering index associated with social life marked the highest with 3.59, followed by private life (3.32), household (3.28), and workplace (2.99). 

Dissatisfaction related to "policy assistance in job and child care" was 4.13 and "hardships in management of job and child care" was 4.03, displaying a significant degree of difficulty in child care and in receiving political support. 

Furthermore, "no time to rest after work" was 3.81, "housework and childcare are all my responsibilities" were each 3.76 and 3.73, demonstrating a need of task allocation. Working mothers hence face difficulties such as "physical pain and discomfort" (3.39) and "financial stress despite two working parents" (3.86). 

The elements most needed in providing an ideal environment for working moms to bear children were chosen as "employment security" and "reasonable child care and education expenses." Overall, 90.% of working mothers have personally expressed fatigue. More specifically, 74.2% of the residents of Daejeon Metropolitan City and Chuncheong Province have deplored their current situation, 70.2% among those with average monthly income of KRW 300,0000 won income or less and 73.85% among those with youngest child aged 3~5. 

Overall, those in their 30s have a higher level of suffering index than those in their 40s, and those whose children are younger than 5 have a higher suffering index than those with children aged 6. 

Education degree wise, working mothers with at least a graduate school degree and working at companies with fewer than 300 employees have the highest suffering index and the level was proportional with weekly working hours. 

The experts involved in the study said, "Korean working moms in their 30s with children aged 5 or younger have the highest suffering index. Compared to last year, the result hasn't changed at all. The government has been expanding its budget for the work-family balance policy but the the satisfaction rate remains low. There is a need for a more specific supporting policy in facilitating working moms balance their work and family life."

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