Nine out of 10 women entrepreneurs (88.5%) said they feel burdened about work-life balance due to pregnancy, childbirth, child care, and family caregiving. In particular, for women who are self-employed and small business owners, gaps in caregiving can immediately lead to management gaps, prompting calls to strengthen practical social safety nets.
According to the report "Status of work-life balance among women entrepreneurs and policy implications," published on the 21st by the Women's Economic Research Institute under the Korea Women Entrepreneurs Support Center, 88.5% of women entrepreneurs said they feel burdened about work-life balance due to pregnancy, childbirth, child care, and family caregiving.
The survey was conducted from the 8th to the 17th last month on 645 women-owned corporations that received a women-owned business certificate.
The smaller the corporation, the heavier the caregiving burden was. By number of employees, 91.7% of one-person corporations said they feel burdened, and by revenue, 91.4% of corporations with less than 300 million won in sales gave the same response.
As for why women entrepreneurs face greater difficulties with work-life balance than men, "a social atmosphere that concentrates family caregiving roles on women" was highest at 65.3%. This was followed by "child-rearing burdens" at 54.6%, indicating that caregiving responsibilities concentrated on women are translating into management burdens.
During pregnancy and childbirth, the biggest difficulty cited was "business disruptions due to the absence of the head" (24.3%). As for needed policies, "short-term assistant staffing to respond to management gaps" (23.6%) drew the highest response. In the area of child care and caring for children, "temporary caregiving gaps due to a child's illness or daycare/school closures" (36.5%) was found to be the biggest challenge. The most needed support policy was "subsidies for the use of child care and care services" (19.3%).
In family caregiving other than child care, 38.0% said "accompanying for hospital consultations and tests, hospitalization, and rehabilitation treatment" was the biggest burden, and policy demand was highest for "helpers to accompany hospital consultations and tests" (26.0%).
Regarding the need for work-life balance support policies for women entrepreneurs, 97.1% of respondents said such policies are needed, indicating very high demand for policy support.
The Women's Economic Research Institute suggested that to reduce women entrepreneurs' caregiving burdens and minimize management gaps, it is necessary to establish a mid- to long-term, effective support system; expand tailored support that reflects the size and type of corporations; and diversify support policies by caregiving type.