3. How can we solve the conflict of working mothers? In other words, what should society do to help women balance work and family if they must or want to work?
Working Mothers? Why not Childrearing Fathers?
The birth rate of the society nowadays is consistently plummeting. The price index has reached a new high, while the wage has not risen much. Given that, it is hard to sustain the family with single income. This explains the reason why the number of working mothers has drastically increased for past two decades. Many of the working mothers find it tough managing both work and childrearing. Therefore, strict implementation of childcare leave in the companies and the reformation of the stereotyped gender roles in the society are needed.
The presence of child care leave system in the companies is so faint that most of the employers can't use it. The child care leave system is supposed to be mandatory by laws in all the companies. However, the defect and the shortage of laws make companies worm their way out of letting employers use it. This makes many working women struggle with their work and childcare. Many of them can't even fully spend their maternity leave but get back to their work. Thus, there should be strict implementation of childcare leave by strengthening the surveillance whether the companies are keeping the child care leave system properly or not. Plus, the punishment in case of the nonfulfillment must be reinforced. The government should also tighten up and add details to the regulations regarding child care leave system in a new way. It should not only be the women but also the men who should use that system. The male employees must be given a chance to care their young children, and this can only be done with the reformation of the stereotyped gender roles in the society.
Have you heard of the term "working fathers" or "childrearing mothers"? I know that your answer is no. The society had been patriarchic for most of the time. The status of women has been risen starting only few decades ago. It is proven by one statistics, that the percentage of women executives in the 100 major companies in Korea 2016 is only 2.2%. The society had given all the burdens of childcaring to the women. However, the world has changed. We should break such stereotyped gender role. Just as mentioned above, the society should guarantee and foster men to use child care leave. We should always remember that it must never be the women but also the men who should be responsible for childcaring. Only by then can the word "working mothers" or "childrearing fathers" disappear.
What society can do for struggling working mothers is the strict implementation of childcare leave in the companies and the reformation of the stereotyped gender roles in the society are needed. Knowing all the ways to solve the conflict of working mothers, we should grant it to be real.
Thank you for sharing your essay. I'm Sungtae Kim from the same class. The essay had several good points. First of all, the title was very interesting so it was a good hook that make the reader interested. Also the two solutions you wrote was logically intertwined with each other and it was impressive that you made the most of the characteristic in your writing. But I found a logical flaw in your essay. In the third essay I recognized your intention but I think you should write 'childrearing fathers' and 'working mothers' like what you've wrote in the last part of the paragraph. Other than that it was a pretty good essay. Thank you:)
ReplyDeleteHi Hayeon! This is Minjeong Lee from the same class. I like your logical points that many companies try to avoid giving childcare leave, and the society is still stuck to the stereotypical gender concepts. The statistic data from the third paragraph is amazing too, because it makes your essay more compelling. I also appreciate that you suggested the way to cope with companies which does not follow the policy you give. I only found some tiny mistakes, such as usage of word "employers" when you should use "employees". I also believe that your essay would be much better if you give any specific example or statistic data for your second paragraph. Thanks for sharing your essay!
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