Class Differences for Women in Attaining Work-Family Balance and Consciousness of Government Responsibility for Child Care: Focusing on the Korean Case

• Published in: Ewha Journal of Social Sciences Vol. 33; no. 2; pp. 251 - 287
• Main Author: 안민영
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 이화사회과학원 01.10.2017
• Subjects: 사회과학일반
• ISSN: 1975-8987; 2671-9029; 2671-9029
• DOI: 10.16935/ejss.2017.33.2.008

The purpose of this study is to closely examine the issues embedded in the work-family conflict with an emphasis on women's social rights. This research focuses on the Korean case, which has shown plummeting birthrate largely due to difficulties of attaining work-family balance. Focusing on work-family conflicts, in which various women’s social rights issues are presented, and examines class differentials among women in both the relative difficulty in attaining work-family balance and public consciousness of social rights via attitude towards government responsibility for childcare. The study finds that there is class differences embedded in “difficulties of work-family balance.” The group with the most favorable environment for work-family balance is the middle class or the middle class–standard employment group. Secondly, there is a lack of class differentials among women regarding “consciousness of governmental responsibility for childcare derived from social rights.” It can be interpreted that class consciousness is not commensurate with class interests, despite material differences among classes in the relative ease of attaining work-family balance. KCI Citation Count: 0