[Monday Column] Low birth rate problem seen from a working mother’s perspective

According to Statistics Korea's regional employment survey 'Employment status of married women' in the first half of 2024, the number of married women aged 15 to 54 is 7,654,000, of which 5,053,000 are employed and 2,601,000 are unemployed. Among the unemployed women, 1,215,000 are women with career breaks, and women with career breaks have quit their jobs. The reasons for leaving were childcare (41.1%), marriage (24.9%), pregnancy/childbirth (24.4%), family care (4.8%), and children's education (4.7%).

The proportion of women who took a career break was higher as the number of children increased: 3 or more (27.7%), 2 (23.7%), and 1 (21.1%), and the younger the children were (33.5%), 7-12 (19.9%), and 13-17 (11.4%).

It can be said that the reason why career-interrupted women quit their jobs is rarely due to their own problems. Statistics show that childcare, marriage, pregnancy and childbirth, family care, and children's education are all intended to fulfill women's roles at home.

Women's career interruption due to childbirth and childcare is not an old problem in our society, and it is true that policies and systems to support work-family balance, such as childcare time and childcare leave for raising children, are also very advanced compared to the past.

While I was serving as an army officer, I got married and became pregnant. When I became pregnant with my first child, there was no system that allowed me to adjust my working hours based on childcare time like there is now, and I worked as much as my physical strength allowed, but it was a time when I had no choice but to go on maternity leave or take childcare leave as an apology to other executives who had to do my work. After giving birth, I came to the conclusion that I could no longer live as an officer, moving from region to region every 1-2 years without an auxiliary caregiver like my mother, and it was only then that I realized that my life could change completely due to the birth of a child.

Regardless of the change in my life, the child was so pretty that it didn't hurt to look at it, and I wanted to spend a lot of time with her and stay there. I also thought that if I couldn't see my child growing up because of my work, I would be happy even if I quit my job.

After that, I was given another opportunity, and I have been able to work without interruption to this day, half on my own and half on someone else's, but the pain of having to leave home without a crying child and the regret of not being able to spend the weekend with me due to work still remain intact in my heart.

Currently, various economic support systems are being implemented to solve the low birth rate problem, but there is much criticism that they are not effective in terms of performance or effectiveness. The author believes that the serious problem of low birth rates needs to be approached from the perspective of women, who are responsible for actually giving birth and raising children, from the perspective of changing awareness within the family, establishing a system that supports work and family, and creating a social atmosphere.

First, from a woman's perspective, becoming a mother is a very scary task that brings about significant changes in her life, so active support from her spouse and division of childcare is essential. Without improved awareness at home, women will also be unable to easily choose childbirth and childcare.

Economic support is important, but a system that allows flexible time management is especially important. In reality, when raising a child, excluding travel time to and from work and fixed work hours, the time you can see your child on weekdays is only 1 to 2 hours. When I was raising my first child, I also received a lot of help in raising my children, including the introduction of a parenting time system that did not exist when I was raising my first child.

Although children look forward to it, school and kindergarten vacations are something that my spouse and I are very afraid of. At this time, my husband and I, my in-laws' parents, and my friend's parents all had to be mobilized, but unlike in the past, my spouse was able to use family care leave, etc., and it was a great help to be able to coordinate some of the time.

Lastly, it appears that society should continue to create an atmosphere that welcomes and supports child-rearing. Our society has continuously pursued efficiency in all fields for rapid development.

What I have felt while raising children is that raising children is far from efficient. Young children cannot put on their own clothes, and when they eat, they spill food here and there, making it very messy, and parents have to wait for them to turn over, crawl, or walk. However, children must go through various trials and errors before they can form their own identity and grow into autonomous adults.

From this perspective, society should view and support women and children raising children with a warm and generous perspective, and should not be stingy in pursuit of efficiency.

“It takes a village to raise a child.”

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[Monday Column] Low Birth Problem from the Perspective of Working Moms (Shortcut)