- I attended the "Gender Inequality in Housework" hosted by the Gwangju Women's Family Foundation, and the theme of the forum is that the value of domestic work should be recognized and paid accordingly.

Speakers in New York and Vietnam announced that we can maintain our daily lives because there are people who do housework and said that gender inequality in households is occurring not only in Korea but also around the world.

Korean speakers also announced the seriousness of women's domestic labor by announcing that domestic labor is the cause of Korea's low birth rate problem.

the speakers' ideas 

Pham Thu Hien : In Vietnam, only children over the age of 3 are given benefits, so children under the age of 3 are having difficulty raising children at their own expense, and they argued that a national daycare center that can be attended by the age of 3 or less is necessary. She also argued that domestic work and unpaid care should be viewed as income work so that earned income can be generated.

Sources :

Pham Thu Hien - Gender Specialist

Park Mijeong - Member of the Gwangju Metropolitan Council.

(Korea)

I have always thought about women's housework.

The reason is that I often saw my mother suffering from housework and various family events.

The stereotype of favoring men is still firmly established in our family, and there is an unspoken atmosphere that "men should not enter the kitchen.

" It's a stereotype that women should do housework, and I'm really ironic that no one takes it for granted without thinking of it as domestic labor.

I think that home should be a space where everyone can relax.

However, most women also "work" there. Half agree with the speaker's words, "We can maintain our daily lives because there are people who continue to do housework," and half disagree.

I agree that having someone to do the housework makes our daily lives easier and makes it easier to concentrate only on work. However, as the number of double-income couples increases and the number of people living alone increases, I think there are difficulties and hardships in the daily lives of women who have to do both work and housework.

In this forum, there was an opinion that wages should be given to domestic labor, but I think it is feasible to recognize the value of domestic labor and promote role sharing. However, I think it is unlikely that they will realize that they will pay domestic labor.

This is because there are no clear standards for setting standards for domestic labor, and I think it can be abused to give wages just by looking at the number of families to support as the speaker KIM Young Rae said. And if you get paid to do housework, you won't be able to change the fundamental problem that housework is mostly drunk on women, and you will have a perception that "you have to work because you got paid."

In order to create benefits for people suffering from domestic labor, just like giving wages to domestic labor, I think we need to prepare a basis for introducing them and implement them with a clear plan.

(Vietnam)

The Vietnamese speaker announced that each vulnerable group should not be given the same benefits, but other benefits necessary for the vulnerable, such as children and the elderly.

She also said there is no policy in Vietnam to support children under the age of three, and that double-income couples are having financial difficulties, arguing that a children's education center should be established for children under the age of three. I agree with the story that benefits should be supported differently depending on the class.For example, I think it would be a better life if women could support activities such as domestic labor stress relief programs and provide care support and living expenses support (cash support system) to the elderly.

Pham Thu Hien - The Vietnamese speaker pointed out the problem that Vietnam, like other countries, has a perception that girls and women should be responsible for housework. The data showed that women and men spend 2.87 times more time taking care of housework. In Vietnam, female employees can be guaranteed a woman's job through law by supporting the birth system and childcare leave for six months. In the case of miscarriage or abortion, you can take 5 to 10 days off.  Pamtuhien believes that unpaid care work will also affect economic growth and sustainable development, and said women's awareness of domestic labor should be raised through communication campaigns and Dia's participation.

Lee Hyun Ah - Housework is important in that it helps family members continue their activities and helps them maintain their daily lives. We stressed that women's productive contribution and role should be evaluated and recognized, and that women's responsibility for unpaid work should be eliminated and their lives improved.  The speaker proposed a cash support system for raising children. He said that the cash support system has both positive and negative aspects, but all of them need to be reviewed and policies adopted.