The Role of Maternal Grandmothers’ Childcare Provision for Korean Working Adult Daughters

Abstract

Despite the Korean government’s investment in childcare facilities for dual-earner households, maternal grandmothers are increasingly taking on the responsibility of caring for their grandchildren. This trend is examined in the current research. While many studies have been conducted on grandparents’ experiences providing childcare for their grandchildren, significantly less research has been conducted on adult daughters’ experiences with their mothers’ childcare provision. This study utilized the concepts of intergenerational solidarity and a life-course approach to understand the experiences of 24 working adult daughters in Korea (ages 30–43) whose mothers provide childcare. Three major themes were identified following a grounded theory approach: gratitude vs. guilt, dependence vs. independence, and closeness vs. disagreement. The results indicated that adult daughters were found to have ambivalence toward their mothers, reflecting the lack of alternative options for childcare. The results from this study suggest that not only improving the quality of public childcare services, but also diversifying services to reflect the needs of dual-income families.

Skilled Migrants and Their Encounters with Care and Employment Regimes: Childcaring among Highly Skilled Female Migrants from Korea in Germany

“…In this context, traditional Confucian beliefs clash with ideas of increasing gender equality concerning women's roles both in the family and the workplace. In addition, the childcaring support provided by informal familial networks is still prevalent in Korea (Jeon and Walker 2022). Despite the rising demand for childcaring facilities, grandparents remain the primary sources of care in Korea (Lee and Bauer 2013).…”

“…In particular, in the Korean context, where childcaring practices from maternal grandparents for their adult daughters are positioned as common cultural norms (Jeon and Walker 2022;Ko and Hannk 2014), the lack of informal caring provision from the maternal parents was often mentioned in the interviews. For instance, Sohee, who is employed by a car company, explains the lack of kinship support in childcaring in Germany: "I sometimes cry due to the difficulties of the childcaring, because it is so hard for me to live as a working mother in Germany without any support from my parents or relatives.…”