Women and family-friendly policies in the Korean government

Abstract

This paper discusses the desires and realities of women and family-friendly policies in the Korean government. The implementation of policies for gender equality during the past two decades has increased the ratio of women in the civil service. As the number of women in the government has increased, family-friendly policies have been provided for civil servants to balance work and personal life. Family-friendly policies are expected to positively affect the civil servants and government performance. However, the family-friendly policies are not effectively implemented because they are not properly bundled, and civil servants are reluctant to take advantage of these policies under male-centered organizational practices. To aid civil servants in balancing the role requirements of work and family, government organizations should create family-friendly work environments by not only instituting various proper family-friendly programs but also by promoting a supportive culture. Several efforts for establishing such a supportive culture are suggested. Points for practitioners To aid civil servants in balancing the role requirements of work and family, government organizations should create family-friendly work environments by instituting various family-friendly programs and by promoting supportive work—family culture. Only providing family-friendly programs without promoting cultural change is insufficient. Several efforts are essential to establish a supportive work—family culture. First of all, the organizational leaders should be aware of the positive effects of family-friendly programs on employees' attitude and behavior and organizational performance. They need to make civil servants believe that their careers will not be negatively affected by using family-friendly benefits through providing them with counseling and education on family-friendly programs and work—life balance. They should also make every effort to reduce the male-centered organizational practices and to support the work—family concerns of the civil servants.