‘Undoing gender’ or selection effects?: fathers’ uptake of leave and involvement in housework and childcare in South Korea

ABSTRACT A number of studies have documented a positive (causal) relationship between fathers’ uptake of parental leave and a more equitable division of unpaid labour in Western contexts, primarily where men contribute to a fair share of unpaid work and fathers’ uptake of leave is common. South Korea offers an apt and contrasting setting to explore this relationship, with its highly gendered division of unpaid labour and low use of fathers’ leave, despite recent increases. This study finds that fathers who have taken (long) leave contribute more to housework as well as both developmental and routine childcare than fathers with neither leave plan nor experience. For housework and developmental childcare, this difference is mostly explained by already involved fathers self-selecting into leave. For routine childcare, there is limited evidence to suggest that very long leave of one year or longer could potentially make fathers more involved. In short, the gender equalising impact of fathers’ uptake of parental leave in Korea appears to be restricted mainly to long leave and routine childcare, if there exists any significant effect at all. Overall, this paper suggests that the gender equalising effect of fathers’ leave may vary depending on the stage of the gender revolution.