South Korea’s new solution to address plummeting birth rates: showing respect for women
- South Korea is the worst place for women to work in the OECD, despite women being among the organisation’s best educated, and more highly so than men
- Birth rates have long been a policy priority: since 2006, the government has spent US$135.65 billion on perks for families and subsidies for children from birth
In just over a decade, South Korea has spent the equivalent of a small European economy trying to fix its demographic crisis, yet birth rates have dropped to the lowest in the world.
This year, President Moon Jae-in, who describes himself as a feminist president, is testing a new angle: showing women more respect.
At the end of last year, South Korea announced plans to remove some of the disincentives for employing women, allowing both parents to take parental leave at the same time and extending paid paternal leave. Employers also get incentives to allow either parent to work fewer hours.
“Efforts on gender equality are very timely,” said Shin Eun-kyung, an economist with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
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South Korea is the worst place for women to work in the OECD, despite women being among the organisation’s best educated, and more highly so than men. But the measures go beyond the workplace: mothers can choose to give the baby their own last name and a tickbox on birth certificates showing whether a baby was born outside marriage will be removed.