The value of unpaid housework was estimated to be 361 trillion won ($319 billion) in 2014. Statistics Korea said the amount was equivalent to 24 percent of the nominal gross domestic product (GDP). It was also translated into the hourly wage of 10,569 won, about double the minimum wage four years ago.
Women accounted for about 75 percent of unpaid labor at home worth 272.5 trillion won, more than three times higher than men's 88.3 trillion won. Unpaid domestic chores include childcare, meal preparation and housecleaning.
It marked the first time the government's statistics office estimated the value of household work. However, the United Nations said, as early as 1985, "Women's economic contribution, mostly in the form of unpaid domestic chores, should be reflected on national accounts and economic statistics." About 20 countries, including France, Finland, Switzerland and Japan, have been making such tallies.
The latest statistics report was welcome, if overdue. Statistics Korea says these figures will be of help in calculating the GDP growth rate precisely as well as shaping and evaluating welfare policies. What makes the recent statistics even more meaningful is they can play a decisive role in changing Korea's male-oriented patriarchal culture.
Housework is demanding and often requires the use of the brain. Korean society, however, has ignored or depreciated the value of housewives' work. That has posed a stumbling block to realizing gender equality while strengthening the country's macho syndrome. Korean men's rate of sharing housework is the lowest among OECD member countries.
If Korea moves toward recognizing the value of household labor correctly, it can result in upgrading women's standing at workplaces and in society. That will work as an occasion to move closer toward a fairer and more democratic society. For instance, they can help make damage calculations more objectively when homemakers have traffic accidents.
All this shows why Statistics Korea should evolve the numbers related to housework's value more precisely. Other government agencies also ought to make such statistics permeate in various sectors of society and make the best use of those tallies.
Women accounted for about 75 percent of unpaid labor at home worth 272.5 trillion won, more than three times higher than men's 88.3 trillion won. Unpaid domestic chores include childcare, meal preparation and housecleaning.
It marked the first time the government's statistics office estimated the value of household work. However, the United Nations said, as early as 1985, "Women's economic contribution, mostly in the form of unpaid domestic chores, should be reflected on national accounts and economic statistics." About 20 countries, including France, Finland, Switzerland and Japan, have been making such tallies.
The latest statistics report was welcome, if overdue. Statistics Korea says these figures will be of help in calculating the GDP growth rate precisely as well as shaping and evaluating welfare policies. What makes the recent statistics even more meaningful is they can play a decisive role in changing Korea's male-oriented patriarchal culture.
Housework is demanding and often requires the use of the brain. Korean society, however, has ignored or depreciated the value of housewives' work. That has posed a stumbling block to realizing gender equality while strengthening the country's macho syndrome. Korean men's rate of sharing housework is the lowest among OECD member countries.
If Korea moves toward recognizing the value of household labor correctly, it can result in upgrading women's standing at workplaces and in society. That will work as an occasion to move closer toward a fairer and more democratic society. For instance, they can help make damage calculations more objectively when homemakers have traffic accidents.
All this shows why Statistics Korea should evolve the numbers related to housework's value more precisely. Other government agencies also ought to make such statistics permeate in various sectors of society and make the best use of those tallies.
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