Compensatory Work Devotion: How a Culture of Overwork Shapes Women’s Parental Leave in South Korea

Abstract

Despite growing concerns that parental leave policies may reinforce the marginalization of mothers in the labor market and reproduce the gendered division of household labor, few studies examine how women themselves approach and use parental leave. Through 64 in-depth interviews with college-educated Korean mothers, we find that although women’s involvement in family responsibilities increases during leave, they do not reduce their work devotion but reinvent it throughout the leave-taking process. Embedded in the culture of overwork in Korean workplaces, women find it justifiable to use leave only when they are highly committed to work and adjust the length of leave to accommodate workplace demands. Upon returning to work, they try to compensate for their absence by working harder than before, thereby showing that they are more committed than their colleagues. Given this “compensatory” work devotion, women question their own entitlement in the workplace, and some quit when they cannot meet their goal of compensating by doing more than others. This study highlights how the workplace culture shapes women’s work devotion during and after leave.

Returning to work after maternity leave: a systematic literature review

“…As regards work productivity, it seems increased by working for pleasure, a healthy mother-infant bonding, and a positive experience of being back to work, and it seems positively correlated with maternal sense of competence (Tohme and Abi-Habib 2022). However, some women feel the need to try and compensate for their absence working harder than before, thereby showing that they are more committed to work than their colleagues (Oh and Mun 2022).…”

“…The studies that are there emphasize the struggle experienced to conciliate work and care demands (Martins et al 2019;Gregory 2021;Parcsi and Curtin 2013). Even if work productivity and maternal sense of competence do not seem to be in conflict (Tohme and Abi-Habib 2022), women often feel the need to try and compensate for their absence working harder than before (Oh and Mun 2022), as if maternity leave and motherhood were something to be ashamed of. Finally, women's physical and mental health, a widely studied topic in the postpartum period, is also poorly investigated when focusing on return to work (Dagher et al 2014b;Falletta et al 2020;Jones et al 2022).…”

The rise of the childless single in South Korea

“…Both men and women report that their workplaces are not supportive of their workers taking advantage of existing family policies. For example, although set to soon increase, Korea's labor law currently provides 10 days of paid paternity leave (Oh & Mun, 2022) and 90 days of paid maternity leave (OECD, 2022). Men do not take advantage of the program because childbearing and childrearing have traditionally been perceived as domestic work reserved for women; thus, there is little support for men who take advantage of these programs (Choi & Park, 2014; Kim & Kim, 2020).…”

“…Furthermore, employers rarely provide onsite childcare for employees (Won, 2016). Not only do parents of young children have limited access to affordable daycare, but they are also left wondering about the quality of care (Brinton & Oh, 2019; Oh & Mun, 2022). Not surprisingly, there have been several reports of daycare center workers abusing and neglecting preschool children in recent years (Kim & Cheung, 2019).…”