More Korean men man up and become homemakers

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2023/02/23/business/economy/housework-childcare-patriarchy/20230223162043442.html

Progress or the downfall of society?

sign me up.  work sucks

Fathers of the board, were you able to take advantage of parental leave?

Also,  6.98 million women  vs 232,000 men are stay at home parenting.   yikes.  Get out there and earn some money ladies. But also,  whats up with women just quiting work forever once they have a kid?  If you kid is going to school all day,  I think you can get out there and get a job.  So many women (in my field of teaching especially) get married at 28-29, have a kid at 29-30, then never work again.

Get out there and earn some money ladies.

That's man stuff

Also,  6.98 million women  vs 232,000 men are stay at home parenting.   yikes.  Get out there and earn some money ladies. But also,  whats up with women just quiting work forever once they have a kid?  If you kid is going to school all day,  I think you can get out there and get a job.  So many women (in my field of teaching especially) get married at 28-29, have a kid at 29-30, then never work again.

You answered your question already: work sucks.

Fathers of the board, were you able to take advantage of parental leave?

No, I had to work more to make up for my wife not working.

Only really possible if you work for the Government or a big company.

Only really possible if you work for the Government or a big company.

Anyone become a father while working for a public school? Is there parental leave in our contracts?

Anyone become a father while working for a public school? Is there parental leave in our contracts?

I thought it was illegal for foreigners to marry Koreans if
they work for EPIK in Seoul?

Haha

But seriously, maternity leave for men? In Korea? This country
has the lowest birthrate in the world. Do you really think lots
of men are doing this?

Also,  6.98 million women  vs 232,000 men are stay at home parenting.   yikes.  Get out there and earn some money ladies. But also,  whats up with women just quiting work forever once they have a kid?  If you kid is going to school all day,  I think you can get out there and get a job.  So many women (in my field of teaching especially) get married at 28-29, have a kid at 29-30, then never work again.

Do you think there are millions of jobs available?

I thought it was illegal for foreigners to marry Koreans if
they work for EPIK in Seoul?

I'm sorry, WHAT?

I'm sorry, WHAT?

They phased out that policy around 15-20 years ago.

I'm sorry, WHAT?

This was actually a thing. In 2023. Hard to believe, but true.

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2023/02/281_344655.html

Some politicians are seriously Jurassic.

I thought it was illegal for foreigners to marry Koreans if
they work for EPIK in Seoul?

This was actually a thing. In 2023. Hard to believe, but true.

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2023/02/281_344655.html

Some politicians are seriously Jurassic.

Also,  6.98 million women  vs 232,000 men are stay at home parenting.   yikes.  Get out there and earn some money ladies. But also,  whats up with women just quiting work forever once they have a kid?  If you kid is going to school all day,  I think you can get out there and get a job.  So many women (in my field of teaching especially) get married at 28-29, have a kid at 29-30, then never work again.

Lots of reasons, but societal or family expectations are big ones. There's still a lot of pressure being placed on women to stay home even when their kids are in school because the logic is they won't have enough time to dedicate towards cooking or maintaining the home if she's off at work, and men aren't expected to help out in that regard. Until kids hit a certain age, they still need someone to look after them (primary school kids get home by 1 or 2, right?), so it falls on the mother to always be present. That, or the family has to pay for childcare, which is expensive and inaccessible to a lot of people. Kids need to be looked after while they're home, maybe even picked up from school, the shopping needs to be done, the best hagwons need to be researched (or at least the ones they can afford if at all), the house still needs to be cleaned regularly, the dishes washed, food prepped, laundry done, and the in-laws are expected to be catered to. There's also a general lack of opportunities when trying to re-enter the workforce because there's still a lot of people trying to enforce outdated gender roles. Men don't help out with the home or child-rearing, they're supposed to focus solely on working in the office and bringing in the money. Women don't help with financial costs, they're supposed to focus entirely on working in the home and child-rearing. The idea that both responsibilities can be shared between couples or even entirely swapped is still being fought by a good portion of the population, even when both men and women want it.

Some women do prefer to remain housewives, it's what works best for their families, but in the grand scheme of things the majority feel like they just don't have many options. Childcare is expensive, men have better job opportunities, and a lot of places stonewall or railroad women after they get married or go on maternity leave, so they just kind of settle into the role of housewife, and focus entirely on their children's futures in every way they can. It's a big reason why fewer Korean women are willing to get married and have kids -- because it often means giving up their careers, for a multitude of different reasons.

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2019/07/119_272000.html

https://www.ft.com/content/86a36a1e-47dd-4b6d-93bf-91dad5ca19f9

https://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/659704.html

Coming from the UK, Korean childcare provision seems excellent. From 6 months old up to the 3rd grade you can chuck your kid in the 어린이집/돌봄 for the whole day, five days a week, for free.

In the UK 3-4 year olds get 15 (in some cases 30) hours a week free, that's it.

After 2nd grade in Korea, you'd need to have a decent hagwon 'relay' system set up if you wanted to keep working (which costs money), but we don't have anything like that in the UK. If both parents want to keep working in Korea it's perfectly feasible logistics wise, it seems more societal pressure/herd mentality and workplace inequality that keep women at home.

Coming from the UK, Korean childcare provision seems excellent. From 6 months old up to the 3rd grade you can chuck your kid in the 어린이집/돌봄 for the whole day, five days a week, for free.

In the UK 3-4 year olds get 15 (in some cases 30) hours a week free, that's it.

After 2nd grade in Korea, you'd need to have a decent hagwon 'relay' system set up if you wanted to keep working (which costs money), but we don't have anything like that in the UK. If both parents want to keep working in Korea it's perfectly feasible logistics wise, it seems more societal pressure/herd mentality and workplace inequality that keep women at home.

What about when school is off? Like 3 months in a year.
If the wife has a decent career and can make good money, it can be feasible. But making 2 million or so will have very little impact on the family budget.
The way I see it, dual income families may have higher income but their expenses are also higher.
- Less time to cook at home so they are more likely to eat out and get food delivered which will cost a whole lot more.
- having two cars ( that might happen with a stay-at-home home wife as well though)
- more money spent on private education. Sure they would spend on some of them anyways. But when both parents work, some academies are used more as child-care services.
Basically the wife would pay a good chunk of her income on various hagwons to watch her kids so she can make money to pay for those hagwons...

And then there are some aspects that are not easy to put a price tag on. Like spending more time together as a family and raising your own toddler/child, instead of letting profit oriented institutes do it. 

Also, in many cases, grandma(s) help out when both parents are working. If that's not an option for whatever reason, the whole thing gets a lot more difficult to pull off.

Why "raise" a kid if both parents are never there?

Why "raise" a kid if both parents are never there?

Get the parents off of THEIR backs.