Survey finds more disagree that women should stay home to care for children

This article is by Kim Nam-young and read by an artificial voice. More people now disagree with the idea that mothers should stay home to care for their children, according to a recent survey that showed people against the idea surpassing those who agree for the first time since the survey was conducted in 2007. A total of 34.1 percent of the 7,300 respondents disagreed overall with the statement that children should be cared for at home by their mother, according to a survey by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs in the first half of this year. The figure combines the 27.9 percent who said they disagreed and the 6.3 percent who said they strongly disagreed. On the other hand, a total of 33.83 percent agreed with the statement, with 26.91 percent agreeing and 6.92 percent strongly agreeing. Another 32.05 percent said they neither agreed nor disagreed with the statement. The health and social affairs institute has been announcing the same survey every three years since 2007. This year is the first time that respondents opposed to the idea surpassed those in support of mothers staying home to care for children. Results from the inaugural survey in 2007 show a stark contrast. At the time, 64.7 percent of all respondents agreed overall with the statement that mothers should stay home to raise their kids, with 48.3 percent agreeing and 16.4 percent strongly agreeing. Only 17.7 percent disagreed overall, which included 15.9 percent who said they disagreed and 1.7 percent who said they strongly disagreed. Over the past 18 years, the share of respondents who agreed overall that mothers should stay home fell 30.87 percentage points to 33.83 percent. During the same period, the share of those who overall disagreed rose 16.42 percentage points to 34.12 percent. This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.