7 in 10 women see marriage as burden to career: survey

The majority of South Korean women view marriage as a hindrance to their careers, in stark contrast to men, a survey showed Monday.

According to the poll by recruitment site Saramin on 1,401 married and unmarried workers, 71.8 percent of women said that tying the knot had a harmful impact on their career, while 75.9 percent of men saw marriage as a boost to their working lives.

Most of the female respondents (76.5 percent) cited housework and child rearing as the major factors, followed by the possibility of career interruption (56.1 percent), companies having no consideration for married women (46.7 percent) and office culture forcing married women to quit (27.6 percent).

For male workers, 69.6 percent of them said that marriage helps them perform better at work because it gives them emotional stability. Nearly 68 percent said marriage motivated them to work harder. Additionally, 46.8 percent said they benefit from their wives’ support and 21 percent cited economic stability.

Out of 386 married female and male respondents, 23.8 percent said they benefited from being married while working. 

Nearly 15 percent of them, however, said that they had been discriminated against due to their marital status. They felt discriminated against when their employers forced them to quit their job, excluded them from promotions, gave them an unreasonable workload and pressured them not to take paid parental leave. 

The survey seems to reflect the social atmosphere that pressures women to leave their regular employment when they get married or are expecting a child.

According to 2014 data by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the employment rate for women aged 25-29 was 68.8 percent, 0.6 percentage points lower than men. But the figure significantly drops to 57.7 percent for women aged 30-34 and to 54.9 percent for those aged 35-39.

By Ock Hyun-ju (laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)