Seoul women spend nearly four times longer than men on housework: report

Women in Seoul spent almost four times longer than men on household chores and were paid less in 2019, highlighting the persistent gender disparity in the country’s capital, according to a report by the Seoul city government.

Girls and women aged 15 or older spent about two hours and 26 minutes on housework in 2019, about 3.6 times longer than men who devoted 41 minutes, according to the 2020 Seoul gender statistics report on residents’ work-life balance.

In double-income households in Seoul, women still spent three times longer hours (two hours and one minute) than men (38 minutes) on domestic tasks.

The gender imbalance was seen in work hours and income as well.

Women’s participation rate in the labor force was 55.2 percent in 2019, up from 52.5 percent in 2015, the report showed. Meanwhile, the percentage of women who took a break from their careers for maternity leave or child rearing fell 1.6 percentage points over the same period to 19 percent.

However, the proportion of women working less than 36 hours a week increased from 21.2 percent to 26.6 percent, which could mean they worked part-time or had temporary jobs.

Only 9.9 percent of men in the city worked less than 36 hours a week, the report showed.

On average, women worked for 37.9 hours a week and men worked for 43 hours in 2019.

In terms of average hourly income, women earned about 15,037 won in 2019, 27.3 percent less than men who received 20,682 won. The hourly wage for women was 29.4 percent less than for men in 2015.

Among those who took home less than 2 million won per month, 44.2 percent were women and 17.3 percent were men.

Women also took more parental leave than their male counterparts, the report showed.

Eight out of 10 people who claimed parental leave pay were women in 2019, though the percentage of men who took parental leave rose from 5.4 percent in 2015 to 14.6 percent in 2019. 

Results of the biannual report represents the situation for Seoul‘s residents in 2015, 2017 and 2019.

The 2020 gender statistics report, based on 2019 data from Statistics Korea and the Seoul Metropolitan Government, are available on the website: opengov.seoul.go.kr/analysis

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