Korean women’s willingness to give birth is the lowest compared to major UN countries, the survey showed.
https://www.mk.co.kr/en/society/11369253
Korean women’s willingness to give birth is the lowest compared to major UN countries, the survey showed.
https://www.mk.co.kr/en/society/11369253
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From the article
A preliminary survey by the Korean Women’s Development Institute found that South Korean women have the lowest childbirth intention among eight countries surveyed, scoring 1.58 out of 5. South Korean men showed a higher intention of 2.09, indicating the largest gender gap in childbirth intentions.
Additionally, South Koreans strongly prefer the traditional family structure where children grow up with both mother and father. The agreement score on this was higher in Korea (women 3.74, men 3.56) compared to countries like Norway and the Netherlands. The survey sampled 2,634 men and women aged 19 to 59 nationwide, using both face-to-face (76%) and online (24%) methods.
There’s a host of reasons why Korean women don’t want to have children. Having lived in South Korea for a few years and befriended several young women, I have a bit of insight.
In addition to economic concerns, there are issues when it comes to child rearing. From what I’ve been told, a lot of younger women have been exposed to fathers leaving most of the child raising to the mother. Even with well-meaning and loving fathers, a lot of fathers end up taking the role of providers and believing that is enough.
A lot of younger women, I found, don’t want to give up their careers or freedom to raise a child because there are still traditional expectations that expect them to give those up to focus solely on the child. It also doesn’t help that there’s been a reactionary movement in South Korea recently that is rooted in misogyny while disguised as ‘traditional values’.
In fact, the Korean women I did meet favored dating foreigners like me because they think they’re more open-minded about any future family structure.
Once again recommending the Twitter account **translatingsk**, like the name says she translates and highlights the rampant and violent misogyny Korean women and girls face that doesn’t make it to western news. It’s incredibly vile stuff, starting with really young boys and backed by authority, from teachers to judges, so it’s no wonder they don’t want to contribute to a system that sees them as lesser.
The work-life balance in Korea is insane even by Asia standards. From what it sounds like men are basically expected to work 60+ hrs every week with their wives forced to give up their careers as somebody needs to raise the kids.
Rising prices and a terribly misogynistic culture will do that to you.
Sexist societies don’t have many children. That needs to be tackled first.
Marriage and motherhood are every woman’s personal choices, not obligations, no matter what. Women don’t owe this world or anyone any kid/kids.
Stop pestering or pressuring women for kids.
The real reason is that Korean women are the MOST highly educated among OECD countries (as shown in various sources). In a society that values education the most, educated women don’t like having to give up their careers to raise children.
This article is another weird cherrypicked data. Why are they comparing to only 6 cherrypicked European countries + Australia?
Why weren’t Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and other more similar countries included in this “survey”?
Love that for Korean Women. Wish more women in other countries would do the same