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 employees 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 employees 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. Based on the interview I had with my fathers' friend, working mother, she was unable to fully spend her maternity leave. The boss had tacitly given her a sign that she would be transferred to different station if she empties her space for a long time. What is worse is that she was not the only one who had suffered from such injustice. Some of her co-workers even quitted their jobs for this reason.
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 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 only the women but also the men who should be responsible for childcaring. Only by then can the working mothers balance both work and family.
What society can do for struggling working mothers are the strict implementation of childcare leave in the companies and the reformation of the stereotyped gender roles. The conflicts that working mothers are facing now will not be solved in an instant. We all need continuous attention in order to make world better for working mothers to live in.
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