• Women's Studies Review
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.139-173
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• 2012

This paper examines the delayed situations for gender equality in South Korean, Japanese, and Taiwanese families despite the challenge to the gender division of labor in modern society, and to analyze the contradiction between the notions of gender equality and the experiences women face in East Asia countries. Using EASS data, we analyze the effective difference over the division of household labor according to women's age and length of school time, attitude for gender division of labor, couple's labor time, and family network. In South Korea and Taiwan, men's actual ratio of household division is higher than Japanese men's. On the other hand, Japanese women's ratio of household division is the highest in spite of their progressive attitude for gender equality. It is due to the difference of women's working time among the countries. In South Korea and Taiwan, women tend to work in full time job, so that they seem to inevitably reduce the time for household labor. The family characteristics have an effect on the women's ratio of household division in Taiwan, and the feature of women's employment does in South Korea. The high percentage of three-generation household contributes to the reduction of housework burden in Taiwan. In South Korea, the higher women's education levels, the higher the women's ratio of household division. Women's weakened bargaining power for household labor is due to the relatively low level of high-educated women's economic participation in South Korea. This paper reveals the effective factors on the gender division of household labor. We propose the necessity of the macro-level analysis as well as the analysis of the personal and conjugal feature.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.65 no.3
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• pp.29-52
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• 2013

This study examined how middle-aged and elderly persons allocated their time in overall perspective and whether the patterns were varied by age, socio-demographic factors, and the interaction effect between them. This study analyzed the 2009 Time Use Survey Data (17,096 time-diaries of people aged 45 or more) of the National Statistical Office using tobit regression model. The main results are as follows. First, middle-aged and elderly people gradually decreased paid work times. Second, the patterns of time allocation were varied by age, gender, education level, marital status and household type(Agricultural/non-agricultural). Third, there were interaction effects between age and the socio-demographic factors on paid work time and leisure time. Highly educated or urban persons were likely to have less time in paid work less than other groups with increasing age. And females were likely to have less time in domestic labor and care work than males with increasing age. But they had more time in social and economic productive activities than males. Based on these findings, this study suggests comprehensive approach to analyze the time use of elderly beyond economic working time or leisure time. To establish effective ageing society policy, it is necessary to consider the time allocation of elderly which divided into the social stratification.

• 한국노년학
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.569-592
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• 2018

This study purported to investigate the current state of human rights of older adults residing in rural areas of Korea. The study utilized, as an analytic framework, 4 priority directions (1. "older persons and development", 2. "rural area development", 3. "advancing health and well-being into old age", and 4. "ensuring enabling and supportive environments") with 13 task actions recommended by Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (MIPAA). Furthermore, the study examined gender differences in all items included in the analytic framework. Data was collected by the face-to-face survey on 800 subjects aged 65 and over. Statistical analyses were conducted using STATA 13.0 program. The main results were summarized in order of 4 priority directions as follows. First, average working hours per day were 6.2, and men reportedly participated in economic activities and needed job training more than women, while women participated in lifelong education programs more than men. Awareness of fire and disaster prevention facilities was low in both genders. Second, accessibility to the support center for the elderly living alone as well as protective services for the vulnerable elderly was found to be low. IT-based services and networking were used more by men than women, and specifically, IT-based financial transactions and welfare services were least used. Third, medical check-ups and vaccinations were well received, while consistent treatments for chronic illnesses and long-term care services were relatively less given. In addition, accessibility to mental health service centers was considerably low. Fourth, although old house structures and the lack of convenience facilities were found to be circumstantial risk factors for these elders, experiences of receiving housing support services were scarce. The elderly were found to rely more on informal care, and concerns for their care were higher in women than men. Plus, accessibility to elderly abuse services was markedly low. Based on these results, discussed were implications for implementing policies and practical interventions to raise the levels of the human rights for this population.