South Korea continues to grapple with its declining birth rate
Source: Korea Ilbo via Naver
1. [+674, -147] You can tell just by reading the comments just how badly men don't want to participate in housework.. It's human nature to be blind to your own faults and to feel defensive once others point it out, and this article is the first in a while that feels most accurate to the current sentiment. One of the biggest reasons women don't want to give birth is that they're still responsible for both holding down a job and taking care of the house. Companies don't want to hire women who have to child rear, and households still consider mothers the #1 point of contact for all child rearing and housework. You either need help from your own mother for child care or hire outside help. Women are having one child and are starting to see the reality that they're forced to face and are choosing to give up on having any more children.
2. [+306, -17] In more developed societies, it has been the norm for a while for both men and women to not only hold down jobs but also take care of the house and children together. They have also fostered a workplace environment where women can still work at full term if they choose to which naturally then extends into maternity leave. In our society, none of this is held as an acceptable standard for various reasons. We need to change our society's mindset as a whole.
3. [+264, -8] I remember I went to a job interview seven years ago, before I got pregnant with my child, and was asked if I had any future plans for pregnancy and that I would be discouraged to have such plans if so. Now that I have had my child, I'm still working but I've realized that society hasn't changed much at all since then. Women are still required to work overtime, there's no flexibility in our work schedules, and we're given the eye if we ask to take time off to take care of our children. Our workplace still rewards those who work overtime, and it's become closer to impossible to both work full time while raising a child. You really need grandparents or childcare to help out.
4. [+207, -14] I think another big factor is that we still haven't figured out one concrete reason for such low birth rates yet. Women can be provided with homes, with a double-income partner, with guaranteed maternity leave... and they still choose not to have children. Women are increasingly choosing the DINK life. If I could go back in time, I wouldn't choose to have my children either, and I will suggest to my own children that they don't get married or have children either.
5. [+179, -20] No matter how difficult it gets for our economy to cope, companies need to immediately begin implementing mandatory two-year maternity and paternity leave for parents. Until then, men won't understand just how difficult it is to raise a child and take care of the home all on your own. I know a lot of people like to blame rising housing costs for this issue but we're in a generation now where both the wife and husband bring 50/50 to the table. We're past the generation where it was only the husband expected to provide housing once married..
6. [+147, -10] I think this analysis could go even further. I think the whole problem with our low birth rates has to do with women being crushed under our society's Confucianist values. Mothers-in-law do not see their daughter-in-laws going to work as important as their own son going to work and demand that their daughters-in-law be available at any moment of the day by phone. During holidays, daughters-in-law are treated like slaves, and when the husbands are asked to help out, the mothers will be the first to glare and say "how dare a woman ask a man to work?" The hypocrisy of the mothers also then blames the daughters for not working and placing the pressure of economic duties solely on their sons while also expecting the daughters to be available at their beck and call. Why would anyone who lives in such a country want to hold down both a household and a career?
7. [+119, -1] How about we start with the double standards men impose in our society by expecting their wives to keep a career, make money, raise their children, and keep the house clean, all the while these same men also blame their female co-workers for getting married, trying to get out of overtime to get home to their children, take maternity leave...
8. [+107, -11] Yup, not having kids. Why would I get married just to slave away to put up a table full of food for another family's ancestors, put my body and health through the grinder (childbirth shaves off 10 years from your life) when I don't want to? All while holding down a career that gives me the eye if I try to take maternity leave or even get back to work afterward ^^ I hate that our society still expects mothers to be the main care for children while also blaming us being parasites on society whenever we're seen out in public with our crying children. Housing costs? Free money? I don't want any of it because I still refuse to have children.
9. [+80, -3] You can tell from reading the comments by Korean men that they absolutely hate Korean women. That's a good thing. It's not like Korean women wanted them anyway. Now that we have reached an understanding, there's no reason for women to enslave themselves to men and society's outdated standards when we're perfectly capable of handling our own lives. Men should also stop thinking that they need to "provide for women". Let's please keep everything separate this way.
10. [+58, -4] It's true that the smarter a woman is, the less likely she is to get married or have children. It's fact.
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