Ko Myungwook of Daegu Dalseo District Council: "Alleviating Housework and Childcare Stress for Housewives Is Now a Clear Social Issue"

Proposal in Five-Minute Speech at Extraordinary Session
Urgent Need for Enactment of Ordinances and Expansion of Budget

On July 25, Ko Myungwook, a member of the Dalseo District Council in Daegu (representing Bonri-dong, Songhyeon 12-dong, and Bon-dong), strongly emphasized the need for institutional support to alleviate housework and childcare stress for housewives during a five-minute free speech at the 2nd plenary session of the 313th Dalseo District Council extraordinary meeting.

Ko Myungwook warned, "The burden of housework and childcare is concentrated on housewives, and in environments where family sharing or parental leave is difficult, psychological isolation and depression can become severe." He stressed that housework and childcare stress is a clear social issue that can no longer be solved solely by individual sacrifice.

Daegu Dalseo District Councilor Gomyung Wook

According to the "2022 Population Trends: Birth and Death Statistics" released by Statistics Korea, the birth rate required to maintain the population in South Korea is 2.1, but the actual birth rate was only 0.78. This is a crisis level where population reproduction is nearly impossible. In particular, the excessive burden of housework and childcare concentrated on families after marriage and childbirth is cited as a key factor in the reluctance to have children.

In response, Gyeonggi Province, as well as Seoul and Ulsan, have already enacted ordinances to alleviate housework stress and are actively implementing various policies such as psychological counseling, education, and support programs. In contrast, Dalseo District currently remains at the level of providing some parental education and care services, leading to criticism that concrete and comprehensive support for housewives is lacking.

Ko Myungwook urged the administration to actively pursue policies, stating, "For Dalseo District to become a marriage- and women-friendly city, it is necessary to enact ordinances to alleviate housework stress and expand the support budget."