THE ROLE OF GRANDMOTHERS IN KOREAN WOMEN'S WORK-LIFE BALANCE

Abstract

Although many Korean women want to pursue both successful careers and families, Korean culture limits women's ability to maintain work-family balance. Constrained by their ability to both work and care for their children, working Korean women tend to call on their aging mothers for assistance. The purpose of this study was to better understand the important role of grandmothers in working Korean women's work-family balance. We conducted in-depth interviews with 22 married, working women living in Korea (M=35.9 years) who have at least one young child (infant / preschooler) and who rely on their mothers (M=62.5 years) for child care. Several themes emerged from these newly available data. Women who had good relationships with their mothers tended to be more appreciative of their mother's help. Several women expressed feelings of guilt that their mothers took care of grandchildren because several of the grandmothers were experiencing health concerns of their own. However, despite these feelings of guilt, the women indicated that they hoped that their mothers would take care of their children until their children enter elementary school. Also, the women expressed the Korean government's childcare policy is unrealistic and they indicated that it would be beneficial if the Korean government provided support to grandmothers caring for grandchildren. Overall, our findings suggested that work-family balance is an important concern of many working Korean women. Often these women rely on support from their mothers in an attempt to obtain work-family balance. However, many of these grandmothers experience their own health concerns.