Work–Family Balance and Low Fertility in South Korea

• In Event: 1283 - Section on the Sociology of the Family Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 11. Work and Family in Different Countries

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between workplace conditions supporting work–family balance and fertility outcomes among married working women in Korea. By incorporating workplace conditions for spouses besides those for female respondents themselves, we investigate whether men’s workplace conditions have a different effect from those of women’s on fertility outcomes. Using data from the Korean Labor and Income Dynamics from 2001 to 2014, we estimate parity-specific Cox proportion hazard models for married women. Our findings suggest that among workplace conditions supporting work–family balance, only maternity-leave policy has a significant effect on both first and second births. Husbands’ self-employed status lowers the likelihood of having a first child. For second births, married working women’s earnings show a significant negative effect. Women with higher levels of earnings are less likely to have a second child. The availability of paternity leave and parental leave has a different effect on second births. Our findings suggest that the effects of workplace conditions for men enabling work–family balance could have no or negative effects on fertility outcomes in countries embedded in asymmetrical gender relations. Moving toward gender egalitarianism encompassing raising gender symmetrical awareness and institutional change in the labor force would be fundamental for enabling work–family balance, leading to strengthened family outcomes.

Authors

• Soo-Yeon Yoon, University of Pennsylvania

• Lanu Kim, University of Washington