hankyoreh

Paek Tae-jin, a 42-year-old father of two daughters, would liike to have another child, but he does not feel it possible because of the problems of finding good childcare and covering rising educational costs. For the present, however, the former is the more serious problem. Even if companies have a childcare leave system in place for both male and female workers, a male employee is considered strange if he requests that his company give him leave. Due to such a hostile environment at work, Paek hesitates to ask his boss for leave.

Under such circumstances, the Korea Youth Corps (KYC), whose members are mainly workers in their 20s and 30s, housewives, and college students, has waged a legislation movement called the ’Papa Quota.’ Under the Papa Quota, fathers can be automatically given a certain period of leave for childcare. Some nations with a low birthrate have introduced this system; Korea’s birthrate is currently the lowest in the world. This new system is aimed at overcoming the low birthrate problem by making fathers share in the responsibility for childcare and by removing the factors contributing to gender inequality in the labor market.

At a press conference at Seoul Plaza yesterday, 50 members of the KYC urged the legislative to pass legislation on the Papa Quota system, and declared that they would wage a ‘baby strike’ from now until December. The KYC will invite participants to join the strike through its web site (www.ilni.net) from today.

Currently, either a mother or a father can request that their company give them childcare leave for up to a year, but only 208 on childcare leave - or 2 percent of the 10,700 who used the system last year - were men. The factors are cultural: people expect women to take responsibility for the care of children, and there is a financial burden faced due to a low allowance for childcare and a corporate culture under which male employees cannot easily use childcare leave.

Professor Yun Hong-sik of Chonbuk National University stressed the necessity of effective policies to encourage fathers to participate in childcare.

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (MOGEF) also has a long-term plan to introduce the Papa Quota system, but financial burden and opposition from businesses are major stumbling blocks. The KYC proposed that the employment insurance provide the funds and the government, management, and labor share in making up for the shortage of capital.