More than six in 10 middle-aged Koreans now say couples should split housework equally, a sharp increase from a decade ago. Yet only two in 10 say they actually do.
"Split Housework 50-50" at 64%, but Only 22% Do It
According to a report on how attitudes among middle-aged Koreans have shifted over the past decade, released on the 21st by the National Data Agency, 64.4% of people aged 40 to 64 said in 2024 that housework should be shared equally between spouses. That is up 26.5 percentage points from 37.9% in 2014.
The shift was most pronounced among those in their 40s, where support for equal sharing jumped to 71.1% last year from 39.5% in 2014. Over the same period, the figure rose 25.0 percentage points among those in their 50s and 20.4 percentage points among those aged 60 to 64.
By gender, support rose to 70.9% from 43.8% among women and to 57.9% from 32.0% among men. While the view gained ground among both, women's support ran 13.0 percentage points higher than men's.
The problem is practice. The share who said they actually divide housework equally edged up just 7.9 percentage points over the same period, to 22.1% from 14.2%.
As a result, the gap between what people think should happen and what they do widened to 42.3 percentage points in 2024 from 23.7 percentage points in 2014. The divide has grown steadily, measuring 27.2 percentage points in 2016, 32.2 in 2018, 36.2 in 2020 and 39.2 in 2022.
Holiday Burden Grows Heavier: 73% Say Women Do Most of It
The divide in household chores widens further during traditional holidays, according to separate survey data.
In a past survey of 656 members by the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, 73.2% said holiday housework is "mainly done by women, with men helping out." Only 21.5% said the whole family shares it equally.
Holiday housework can run two to three times the usual volume, taking a physical and mental toll. In one hospital survey, 70.7% of married women said they experienced joint pain after the holidays. The share reporting feelings of depression rose to 64.2% after the holidays from 23% before.
The survey also found a gap between how men and women view the holidays. In the FKTU survey, 16.7% of men said they would like their descendants to hold ancestral rites for them, compared with just 2.4% of women. Conversely, 33.9% of women and 26.2% of men said there was no need for such rites to be held for them.
Past court data also showed divorce filings rising just after the holidays. In March 2018, the month following the Lunar New Year break, courts nationwide received 3,211 divorce petitions, up 30.8% from 2,454 the previous month. In October that year, the month after the Chuseok holiday, filings totaled 3,374, up 29.0% from 2,616 in September.
The figures alone, however, do not establish holiday housework as a direct cause of the increase. They are better read as showing a timing correlation between the holidays and a rise in divorce filings.
