Who Deserves to Work? How Women Develop Expectations of Child Care Support in Korea

Abstract

Who deserves to Work? how Women develop expectations of Child Care support in korea Eunsil Oh harvard university, usA This study extends our understanding of the positive relationship between kin-based child care support and mothers ability to stay in the workforce by examining why and how women seek such help. using 100 in-depth interviews with Korean mothers, i find that although child care provided by grandmothers helps mothers maintain their employment, a mother will ask for support only when she constructs strong career aspirations and generates agreement amongst family members that she deserves support. Both of these center around the notion of who deserves to work as a mother. Mothers' explanations of why they deserve support vary based on their educational backgrounds: less-educated mothers stress economic stability, whereas better-educated mothers emphasize the symbolic meaning of sustaining their high public status. Most mothers, however, feel the need to "prove" to themselves and to certain others that they deserve child care support. Based on these findings, i develop a theory of deservingness to explain how mothers account for their work and make decisions to seek child care support.

Towards a performative understanding of deservingness: Merit, gender and the BBC pay dispute

“…This is to foreground the significance of normative expectations and personal values as well as social identity characteristics such as gender in terms of the relationship between the judger and the person being judged (Feather, 1999;Miller, 1999;Oh, 2018). In our terms, this behaviour is viewed as problematic because it does not conform, performatively, to a normative (masculine) model of professionalism and of career success.…”

“…More importantly, deservingness needs also to be conferred by those with decision-making power. In support, Oh (2018) found, in her recent study of North Korean mothers returning to work, that women had to prove to themselves, as well as to grandparents as potential caregivers, that they deserved childcare support. Looking at the BBC, Carrie Gracie first and foremost claimed in her open letter that she herself was deserving of equal pay which she then conveyed to those in decision-making power: she described the Chinese editorial role as a demanding one, based on a 'punishing' schedule and hence worthy of recognition and reward.…”

“…Deservingness accordingly is linked to action and performances whereby individuals demonstrate responsibility for outputs based on their own hard work and effort (Pojman & McLeod, 1999). In support, Oh (2018) found, in her recent study of North Korean mothers returning to work, that women had to prove to themselves, as well as to grandparents as potential caregivers, that they deserved childcare support. My diary cannot accommodate the work I am offered from across the organization.'…”

“…In Butlerian terms, deservingness is not only based, in part, on self-evaluations through the claiming of worth but must also be conferred so the subject is recognized as a deserving subject (Butler, 1990(Butler, , 1993. Further, such social positioning impacts on the perceived validity of claims and requests that an individual might makethe higher the value attached to an individual's position and the work they do, the more deserving they are perceived to be (Oh, 2018). Social positioning such as socioeconomic status, gender, ethnicity and race have emerged as key factors which influence evaluations of an individual's worth and their deservingness of reward and support in relation to work.…”

“…Social positioning such as socioeconomic status, gender, ethnicity and race have emerged as key factors which influence evaluations of an individual's worth and their deservingness of reward and support in relation to work. Further, such social positioning impacts on the perceived validity of claims and requests that an individual might makethe higher the value attached to an individual's position and the work they do, the more deserving they are perceived to be (Oh, 2018). Thus, evaluations of deservingness are likely to be influenced by the relationship between the person who is judging and the person being judged with positive evaluations largely predicated upon a shared social identity in terms of, for example, citizenship or gender.…”