Domestic division of labour and fertility preference in China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan

Housework share and fertility preference in four East Asian countries in 2006 and 2012

“…According to her analysis, husbands' help with domestic work and access to inexpensive formal childcare are associated with a higher likelihood of intended births. Echoing Kim's (2017) and Kan and Hertog's (2017) results, Yang (2017) finds that in China, the level of a wife's domestic work is negatively associated with a desire to have another child. This association disappears, however, when the sex of the child is taken into account.…”

“…Men did barely any domestic work in these countries, and their fertility intentions were not associated much with their domestic work participation. The situation was very different for women; Kan and Hertog (2017) find that in East Asia, wives whose husbands participated more in housework were willing to have more children. Subsequent papers in the special issue focus on one country each and provide more detailed insights into men's and women's fertility intentions and the consequences associated with having more children in Japan, China, and South Korea.…”

“…This special issue is comprised of five papers focused on family trends and domestic division of labour in four East Asian countries: China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. In a comparative paper analysing the association between fertility and domestic work participation, Kan and Hertog (2017) find that in 2006, the domestic division of labour has been very unequal in all four countries. Men did barely any domestic work in these countries, and their fertility intentions were not associated much with their domestic work participation.…”

“…As detailed in Kan and Hertog (2017), even though China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan had unique historical and cultural trajectories (think of the one-child policy in China), they also share many commonalities. Women in all four countries have experienced a rise in conflict between their domestic and labour market roles in the past few decades.…”

Division of domestic labour and lowest-low fertility in South Korea

“…To tackle Korea's lowest-low fertility, government policies would be wise to target women with one child and relieve their burden through a more gender-equal division of domestic labour and available and affordable childcare. It has been argued that South Korea, together with several other East Asian countries, remains in the first stage of the gender revolution framework proposed by Goldscheider, Bernhardt, and Lappegård (2015) (Kan and Hertog 2017). Reversing the current low fertility rate through the second stage of the revolution could be challenging in highly gendered East Asian societies, with their patriarchal family systems, welfare regimes relying on the family, and workoriented lifestyles.…”