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Jill Weinberg
Korea, I looked at the Korean General Social Survey (KGSS), the South Korean version of the
General Social Survey. Although the survey covers a wide range of topics such as the
government, personal finances, internet usage, and more, I specifically wanted to focus on South
Koreans opinions of gender and gender roles in their homes. Highly influenced by
Confucianism, South Korean families have very stringent roles for the family, many ascribing to
the father works, mother stays at home lifestyle. Im interested to see how much of that
remains the norm and whether the influence of the United States and Koreas modernization has
influenced how people think about the issue. From the data, which was found on ICPSR, I
narrowed the variables to those that dealt with women and mens financial role in the family.
At first glance, it seems that peoples perceptions of what women and men should do in
the home seem to be changing. When asked whether both husband and wife should contribute to
the household income, approximately 70% said they both should, and 20% remained neutral.
This result tells us there has been progress in terms of viewing women as capable
employees/workers in the workforce. However, the result may also have been influenced by
financial difficulties in many South Korean families, leading most to believe that both parents
must work in order to sustain their lives. It could have also been impacted by social desirability
bias, respondents choosing to align themselves with more feminist views to seem more western
or current.
Although most people say that both mother and father should contribute financially to the
family, when a child is introduced into the equation, the responses change drastically. When
asked if preschool children suffer through a working mother, 68.91% of respondents either
agreed or strongly agreed and 14.40% remained neutral. When asked if family life suffers
through a working mother, 62.89% either agreed or strongly agreed and 16.12% remained
neutral. These results contradict the findings above, showing us that gender roles may be
fortified when children enter the family picture. This finding is further corroborated by the fact
that 79.94% of respondents agree or strongly agree that people with children ought to marry.
As we delve further into the data, we are seeing that family structures really influence how
Furthermore, when asked about whether gay and lesbian couples were capable of raising
children (as compared to a nuclear couple), most respondents replied that homosexual couples
were not capable (63% for lesbian couples; 71.13% for gay couples). The idea of the nuclear
find that more lesbian couples are perceived to be as good caregivers as heterosexual couples.
This indicates that people may perceive women to be better at caregiving and housework and
Overall, gender norms and roles persist in South Korean society and family. Although
initial findings showed that gender roles were fading, a further look proved that these norms
continue, especially when a child is introduced into the equation. This shows that both family
and gender work together to reestablish the Confucian (and outdated) style of family life. I want
to note at this moment that all of the conclusions are speculative. Obviously, more research must
be performed to reach a more definitive conclusion, but this first look at the general social survey
has given us a great jumping off point for further research. The next logical step to take would be
to look at how specific variables interact with these findings. There are many more variables in
this study that could have been looked at spouse responsibility and perception of women in
general, for example but only if we can compare two variables with each other.