• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.53-65
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• 2023

This study focused on Japanese families engaging in childrearing to discover changes in their daily lives, such as in the role division between husband and wife and hours spent on housework and childcare, caused by the unexpected crisis of COVID-19. An empirical analysis attempted to determine whether changes in the working environment, such as working and commuting hours, affected the role division between husband and wife, as well as housework and childcare hours spent. The data analyzed were extracted from the 2021 "3rd Survey on Changes in Lifestyle Awareness and Behavior Due to the Impact of COVID-19" conducted by the Japanese Cabinet Office. A total of 983 couples aged 20 or older, living with their spouse, having at least one child under the age of 18, and both employed were selected. The analysis results were as follows: First, the division of roles between husband and wife changed in the direction of increasing the husband's role in housework and childrearing. Second, the decrease in working and commuting hours increased the husband's role. Third, housework and childcare hours were more clearly related to changes in the working environments of husbands and wives than to changes in role division between husband and wife. In conclusion, changes in men's working and commuting hours had a greater impact on role division, as well as housework and childrearing hours in the family, than changes in women's working and commuting hours. In the future, an analysis that considers labor market factors is necessary.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.5-34
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• 2014

This study investigates time allocation among paid work, child care and leisure of dual earner parents of pre-school child. The focuses of this study are time allocation of full-time dual earner parents which can be affected by traditional gender role ideology, and if the gender effects can be diminished or not. So the analysis were about gender effects in the time allocation and the moderating effects of education on gender effects. According to the analysis, the hypothesis are partly corroborated. Even though gender is not effective on paid working time(production time), it affects the time allocation for child care and leisure. There are significant gender gaps in time share for child care(family time) and time share for leisure(private time). The education has moderating effects on gender effects. When education years getting longer, gender gap in child care time becomes narrow, however gender gap in leisure time becomes wide. Because the education is expected to cultivate the sense of value of child care, it can bring decrease of gender gap in care time. According to the result on leisure time share, the education is not expected to make changes in patriarchical gender role in terms of leisure and it doesn't contribute work and life balance.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.103-120
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• 2021

Recently, the importance of the fathers role in the care of young children has been emphasized in Korea for the balance of childcare responsibilities between mothers and fathers. This study investigates the trends in paternal childcare in Korea over the last 15 years. Childcare is divided into primary and developmental care and fathers's Childcare time and participation rates are inverstigated for dual- and single-income households. Data are collected from the four waves of the five-yearly Statistics of Korea Life Time Surveys between 2004(t₁) and 2019(t₄) including the workday time diaries of fathers with preschool children(n₁=2,264, n₂=1,242, n₃=959, n₄=952). Three major results are identified. First, paternal childcare time and participation rates have increased with dual-income fathers spending 24 more minutes a day with their young child(ren) in 2019 than in 2004, which is nearly double. Second, in the analysis of fathers' childcare time use and participation rates comparing primary and developmental care, primary care is found to have increased more than developmental care, especially among dual income fathers: this further exhibits a reversed relation between primary and developmental care over time. Third, the determinants of paternal childcare time are fathers' age, market labor time, commuting time, gender equality consciousness, and education. In particular, market labor time was significant in all four waves, while gender equality consciousness is only significant for single-income fathers. Based on these results, a specific agenda is provided for family-friendly policies to improve the balance of childcare roles between fathers and mothers, especially encouraging increased(significant and sufficient) participation of fathers in primary care activities.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.1-19
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• 2016

This study attempted to assess the durability of the trend in increasing childcare time and to get some clues based on research findings to make efficient policy interventions in case there is a need to continue or reverse course for such trend. In doing so, a total of 9,668 diaries from the 2004, 2009, and 2014 Korean Time Use Survey were analyzed targeting parents with a preschooler as their eldest child. Parental time was regressed on parents' weekly work hours, mother's relative income, parents' education and gender role attitudes. Furthermore, increase in parental childcare time was decomposed into parts that were attributable to differences in the means and slopes of associated factors. Analytic results revealed that; parents' weekly work hours were associated with time spent on childcare from 2004 to 2014; the negative relationship between mother's relative earnings and her childcare time in 2004 and 2009 was reversed to a positive one in 2014; parent's education had stronger positive effects on father's than on mother's childcare time; parents' gender role attitudes had a weak association with childcare time; social and cultural changes such as decrease in work hours, higher education, more egalitarian gender role attitudes, and rise in women's wages contributed to the increase in parental childcare time, but in a different way for mothers and fathers. By taking into account the social and cultural context behind the changes, this study is able to provide a more constructive implications for childcare policy in Korea.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.71-84
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• 2022

This study analyzed 2019 time survey data from the National Statistical Office to examine the childcare behaviors of fathers with preschool children and their determinants, considering types of care and working/nonworking days. The main results of this study are as follows. First, paternal childcare time of nonworking days was three times more than that of working days, and the participation rate was also higher on nonworking days. Second, there was no significant difference in the amount of time spent on primary care and developmental care by fathers, whether from dual- or single-income families. Third, it seems that fathers adjust their participation in childcare between working days and nonworking days in consideration of the mother's time availability. Fourth, the variables related to childcare needs had a significant influence on paternal childcare time on both working and nonworking days. Fathers' developmental care time was not explained by the independent variables entered into the regression analysis. As a result of the study, it is necessary to reduce fathers' working hours and increase family-friendly systems to increase fathers' participation in childrearing. Fathers' perception of parental responsibility must also be changed.