돌봄은 ‘덫’인가 ‘피난처’인가?: 20∼30대 기혼여성들의 일에 대한 인식을 중심으로

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze the experiences and perceptions of the work of married women in their 20s and 30s who are experiencing care problems. Through this, I would like to suggest a way to improve the gender division of labor. Among the gender division of labor in the home, in particular, the fact that women are the subject of caring and housework makes the difference between ‘the work of present’ and ‘the work of future’. Because of this, the dilemma of women’s labor continues. Therefore, this study focused on the gap between the ‘current situation’ and ‘future expectations’ of married women in their 20s and 30s who are staying in their current jobs because they have to perform care. In the meantime, many studies have been conducted on the social structural analysis of the phenomenon of career interruption or unfair status of married women. However, there have been few studies dealing with the perceptions of married women, especially the relatively young 20s and 30s. This study is meaningful in that it studies it through in-depth interview cases. The work of women in this study case can be broadly divided into ‘the work of present’ and ‘the work of future’. ‘The work of present’ is divided a lot because of the various requirements of practical constraints. Representatively ‘the work of present’ is a part-time livelihood job that is unavoidably chosen in a situation where time is limited because of care. ‘The work of future’, which women say, defines work itself as a “condition of retirement security”. Or, there is an expectation of becoming a “nice mother, a proud wife”. In this way, for the women in the case, work becomes a ‘trap’ that prevents them from doing what they want to do now because of caring, or becomes a ‘refuge’ representing the present work that they are not satisfied with. This duality shows the ‘double inner mind’ of women who are distributed at the bottom of the ‘M-curve’ of the current economic activity participation rate. In conclusion, based on the research case, I present a practical social alternative to improve the inequality of the gender division of labor that still persists in the neoliberal order.