PHOTO: ISTOCKPHOTO
SEOUL: A recent trip to the clinic with his sick toddler was stressful for South Korean Park Hyeong Joo but it had nothing to do with his son's health.
'It was a weekday morning and every sick child was accompanied by the mother except mine,' said Mr Park, 35, who quit his job in May as a sales manager to take care of his two-year-old.
SICK CHILD, STRESSED FATHER
'It was a weekday morning and every sick child was accompanied by the mother except mine. All the women there were staring at me as though there was something wrong with me.' - Mr Park Hyeong Joo, on taking his toddler to a clinic MANHOOD CALLED INTO QUESTION
'There is a strong and unspoken bias that regards a man as less of a man if he does not work. Living off the wife is frowned upon and I have to put up with dirty looks and sniggers.' - Mr Park
BONDING MAKES IT WORTHWHILE
'The joy of seeing the strong father-son bonding displaces whatever burden I have in earning the money.' - Madam Cho Myung Hwa, 34, Mr Park's wife
... more
'All the women there were staring at me as though there was something wrong with me.'
There was nothing wrong with Mr Park, of course, except that he had chosen to join a small, but potentially growing, group of men who stay at home.
Despite the fact that stay-at-home husbands are frowned on in Korean Confucian society, the ranks of unemployed married men have doubled to two million from a decade ago, according to the National Statistical Office (NSO).
Most of these men - about 1.7 million of them - are either retired or too sick to work, while the remaining 300,000 are employable but cannot find work or choose not to work.
Their families rely on income from working wives, pensions, savings, allowance from children or state welfare.
In South Korea, as in many other Asian societies, men are expected to bring home the bacon while the women stay at home to look after them and their children.
'There is a strong and unspoken bias that regards a man as less of a man if he does not work,' said Mr Park, who declined to be photographed.
'Living off the wife is frowned upon and I have to put up with dirty looks and sniggers.'
Still, he is one of the more than 64,000 house husbands, taking care of the children and doing household chores.
The other 230,000 who are employable but unable to find work are either receiving skills training or looking for work in a tight job market.
'Employment growth has slowed due to surging oil prices and unfavourable economic conditions,' said Mr Kim Jin Gyu, a statistician with the NSO.
In May, the number of new jobs grew by just 181,000 from a year earlier, the smallest increase in three years.
In Mr Park's case, the decision to stop work came after careful discussion with his wife.
'Our parents could not take care of our son because they live far away and we do not want to entrust him to a child-care centre or maid,' he said.
'In the end, my wife and I decided that I would quit my job and she would take care of the finances.'
The decision was aided in part by the fact that his accountant wife - who brings home three million won (S$4,000) a month - earns more than he did.
'The increase in the number of well-educated and highly-paid women has contributed to the growing ranks of house husbands,' said Ms Choi Ji Hyun, 27, a postgraduate student who is doing a dissertation on this trend at Busan National University.
Half of the women in South Korea are employed, up from just 30 per cent two decades ago.
Many of these working mothers do not complain about being the sole breadwinners.
'The joy of seeing the strong father-son bonding displaces whatever burden I have in earning the money,' said Madam Cho Myung Hwa, 34, Mr Park's wife.
'Taking care of the family is a shared responsibility and goes beyond just the finances.'
Despite the strong social prejudice, the younger South Korean generation is slowly warming to the idea of house husbands.
Geologist Lim Yun Gu, who has a 17-month-old son, is one of them.
'If I lose my job, I am quite happy to let my wife provide for the family while I stay at home to take care of my son,' said the 34-year-old
SEOUL: A recent trip to the clinic with his sick toddler was stressful for South Korean Park Hyeong Joo but it had nothing to do with his son's health.
'It was a weekday morning and every sick child was accompanied by the mother except mine,' said Mr Park, 35, who quit his job in May as a sales manager to take care of his two-year-old.
SICK CHILD, STRESSED FATHER
'It was a weekday morning and every sick child was accompanied by the mother except mine. All the women there were staring at me as though there was something wrong with me.' - Mr Park Hyeong Joo, on taking his toddler to a clinic MANHOOD CALLED INTO QUESTION
'There is a strong and unspoken bias that regards a man as less of a man if he does not work. Living off the wife is frowned upon and I have to put up with dirty looks and sniggers.' - Mr Park
BONDING MAKES IT WORTHWHILE
'The joy of seeing the strong father-son bonding displaces whatever burden I have in earning the money.' - Madam Cho Myung Hwa, 34, Mr Park's wife
... more
'All the women there were staring at me as though there was something wrong with me.'
There was nothing wrong with Mr Park, of course, except that he had chosen to join a small, but potentially growing, group of men who stay at home.
Despite the fact that stay-at-home husbands are frowned on in Korean Confucian society, the ranks of unemployed married men have doubled to two million from a decade ago, according to the National Statistical Office (NSO).
Most of these men - about 1.7 million of them - are either retired or too sick to work, while the remaining 300,000 are employable but cannot find work or choose not to work.
Their families rely on income from working wives, pensions, savings, allowance from children or state welfare.
In South Korea, as in many other Asian societies, men are expected to bring home the bacon while the women stay at home to look after them and their children.
'There is a strong and unspoken bias that regards a man as less of a man if he does not work,' said Mr Park, who declined to be photographed.
'Living off the wife is frowned upon and I have to put up with dirty looks and sniggers.'
Still, he is one of the more than 64,000 house husbands, taking care of the children and doing household chores.
The other 230,000 who are employable but unable to find work are either receiving skills training or looking for work in a tight job market.
'Employment growth has slowed due to surging oil prices and unfavourable economic conditions,' said Mr Kim Jin Gyu, a statistician with the NSO.
In May, the number of new jobs grew by just 181,000 from a year earlier, the smallest increase in three years.
In Mr Park's case, the decision to stop work came after careful discussion with his wife.
'Our parents could not take care of our son because they live far away and we do not want to entrust him to a child-care centre or maid,' he said.
'In the end, my wife and I decided that I would quit my job and she would take care of the finances.'
The decision was aided in part by the fact that his accountant wife - who brings home three million won (S$4,000) a month - earns more than he did.
'The increase in the number of well-educated and highly-paid women has contributed to the growing ranks of house husbands,' said Ms Choi Ji Hyun, 27, a postgraduate student who is doing a dissertation on this trend at Busan National University.
Half of the women in South Korea are employed, up from just 30 per cent two decades ago.
Many of these working mothers do not complain about being the sole breadwinners.
'The joy of seeing the strong father-son bonding displaces whatever burden I have in earning the money,' said Madam Cho Myung Hwa, 34, Mr Park's wife.
'Taking care of the family is a shared responsibility and goes beyond just the finances.'
Despite the strong social prejudice, the younger South Korean generation is slowly warming to the idea of house husbands.
Geologist Lim Yun Gu, who has a 17-month-old son, is one of them.
'If I lose my job, I am quite happy to let my wife provide for the family while I stay at home to take care of my son,' said the 34-year-old
