In just over a decade, South Korea has spent the equivalent of a small European economy trying to fix its demographic crisis, yet birthrates have dropped t
SEOUL – In just over a decade, South Korea has spent the equivalent of a small European economy trying to fix its demographic crisis, yet birthrates 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 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. South Korea is the worst place for women to work in the OECD, despite women being among the organization’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 tick box on birth certificates showing whether a baby was born outside marriage will be removed.
Fertility treatments will be offered to single women and unmarried couples as well. Social campaigns will encourage men to participate more in child care and household chores.
Contrast that with a 2016 effort by the previous government, run by the country’s first female president, Park Geun-hye, which launched a website carrying a real-time statistical heat map of women of child-bearing age, marriages and births in the hope of spurring competition between cities and regions.
The website was taken down after one day, with women complaining it made them feel like “reproductive organs.”
“The country sees women as baby factories,” says Hong Sook-young, who produces the country’s most popular children TV show. Asked about the latest measures, Hong said “at least pretending to hear what people really want is a start toward change.”
South Korea’s demographic time bomb is ticking louder. The government’s latest forecast sees its population declining from 2027, and a presidential committee said the country’s economic growth potential could fall to below 1 percent.
