[K-Women Talk] Rethink Low Birthrate Measures from the Perspective of Women and Children

Proposals to solve the low birthrate problem are truly at the level of a "Baekgajaengmyeong" (a situation where many scholars each present their own arguments and debate). Issues ranging from preventing career interruptions, providing quality and affordable housing, solving private education problems, ensuring quality public schools, securing obstetrics and gynecology clinics and supporting infertile couples, increasing direct childbirth and childcare subsidies, offering high-quality childcare facilities and child care, corporate tax reductions related to these matters, creating good jobs, demands for deregulation of new industries, to strengthening regional balance are all being discussed across almost every economic and social sector. However, it is questionable whether the demands of women and children are being sufficiently considered. Although many of the proposed measures are related to solutions for low birthrate, they still amount to a department store-style listing and their effectiveness is doubtful. It seems difficult to attract the choices of women with a high awareness of gender equality who prioritize economic independence and achievement as their number one life goal. As a recent survey by a current affairs weekly magazine shows, these women currently judge that marriage, childbirth, and their own work and social achievements are incompatible in our society.

The solution to the problem still lies in that direction. The idea of giving more benefits based on the number of children must be discarded first. Instead, it is necessary to recall the direction presented by the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action, which stated that "population policies should focus on the needs, quality of life, and human rights of individual men and women, not on national goals." From this perspective, priorities change.

First, pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare should not be disadvantages in women's careers, and there must be confidence that women will not face direct or indirect discrimination at work simply because they are women. To achieve this, corporate operations and organizational culture need improvement. Second, maternity leave and parental leave should be easy and convenient for everyone to use. Third, gender-equal distribution of caregiving must be strengthened. According to research by Professor Matthias Doepke and his team at Northwestern University, the less men participate in childcare and housework, the lower the birthrate tends to be. South Korea is one of the representative cases. Fortunately, as a result of government efforts to expand paternity leave, the rate has increased from 5.6% in 2009 to 28.9% in 2022. Including spousal maternity leave, this direction needs to be reinforced. Fourth, it is important to establish flexible work systems, including telecommuting, and reduce working hours through efficient work processes. Young children need absolute care time with their parents, which is also a right of the child. At the very least, leaving work by 5 p.m. is necessary to feed children on time. Fifth, bold financial plans are needed to train high-quality child care personnel and expand child allowances up to under 18 years of age. Sixth, to guarantee the health rights of all mothers and infants, measures such as regional obstetrics and gynecology policies, universalizing postpartum nurse home visits, and fostering a culture that welcomes children are necessary. Seventh, schools need to restructure detailed operations, assuming that all parents work, including care, parental participation, and even the way school supplies are provided.

If the demands of women and children are not prioritized when discussing low birthrate measures, it is a fundamentally flawed approach from the start. Women are the main agents of childbirth, and a social environment where children can be happy is a meaningful factor in childbirth decisions. For policies to effectively alleviate low birthrate, men must also become active participants in caregiving. Establishing an institutional environment for this is also important. News says that the Presidential Committee on Ageing Society and Population Policy will soon convene. We look forward to good decisions.

Cha Insoon, Adjunct Professor at the National Assembly Legislative Research Institute