Among women, 70.2 percent disagreed with the so-called ‘traditional’ family structure. (image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Jun. 25 (Korea Bizwire) — The public perception of the traditional role of a married couple, where the husband makes money outside and wife takes care of family members at home, is fading.
According to a survey of 2,000 adults conducted by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, 68.8 percent disagreed with the opinion that “What a husband should do is make money and what a wife should do is take care of her family and do chores.”
Among women, 70.2 percent disagreed with the so-called ‘traditional’ family structure, which was about 3 percentage points more than men, of whom 67.3 percent disagreed.
By age, younger respondents were more likely to say they did not agree with the traditional family roles, as 90.1 percent of the respondents in their 20s disagreed, followed by 78.8 percent of those in their 30s, and 74.3 percent of those in their 40s.
Depending on the state of marriage, 86.9 percent of unmarried individuals disagreed, while 64.8 percent of married individuals and 36.5 percent of divorced individuals disagreed.
Depending on whether participants had children, there was a large difference in the proportion of those who disagreed with traditional family roles.
Some 84.5 percent of the respondents who did not have children said they disagreed, while only the 62.5 percent of those who had children disagreed, revealing a 22-percentage-point gap.
In addition, as the income bracket increased, the ratio of respondents who generally disagreed increased, while 74.1 percent of the upper and middle classes were opposed to traditional roles, 53.7 percent of lower classes disagreed, showing a 21.4 percentage point gap between the two brackets.
Meanwhile, the change in attitude towards traditional gender roles can also be confirmed in the finding that only 47.6 percent agree with the opinion that women with jobs should focus more on family rather than work, and 52.4 percent, more than half, said they do not.
D. M. Park (dmpark@koreabizwire.com)
