This April 20, 2020 photo shows an elementary school student taking online class with the help of his mother at their home in the central Seoul ward of Yongsan. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, March 4 (Korea Bizwire) — More women than men feel concerned about being disadvantaged at work for taking time off to attend to parental duties amid the coronavirus pandemic, a survey showed Thursday.
The survey, which was conducted by the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), an umbrella labor group, ahead of March 8 International Women’s Day, found that 70 percent of women expressed such concerns, compared with 53.8 percent of men.
In total, 62.4 percent of those surveyed said they have concerns about being disadvantaged if they continue to take time off to look after their children, citing possible transfers between departments, dropped promotions and low grades on performance evaluations.
Medical professionals expressed the most concern at 76.9 percent, followed by financiers at 70.6 percent, aviation industry workers at 67.7 percent and public sector employees at 46.3 percent.
Meanwhile, the percentage of men and women who responded they had taken time off to attend to parental duties was nearly identical at 40.2 percent and 40.7 percent, respectively.
In total, they accounted for 40.5 percent of the respondents.
Among those who currently hold the position of department head, men said it took them an average of 25 years to reach that position, while women cited 26.5 years.
Women took 1.6 years and 1.1 years longer than men on average to become deputy department head and section chief, respectively.
Asked how far up the ranks they expect to climb at their current job, 6.5 percent of men answered an executive position, compared with 2.2 percent of women. A department head position was chosen by 40.1 percent of men, compared with 27.3 percent of women.
The survey was conducted on 653 members of labor unions under the FKTU.
(Yonhap)
