Korea's work-life balance policies for sustainable growth

摘要

The potential of women must be fully tapped if we are to secure a path to sustainable development and address the ever-decreasing working-age population in the post-2015 era. Everyone will agree that harnessing the female labour force is essential for sustainable development. In the case of Korea, if by 2030 women's economic participation rate were to increase to the men's rate of 2010, the total labour force size would increase by about 10 percentage points in that time, according to the OECD. In addition, evidence from developed countries shows that women's employment rate, fertility rate and gross domestic product (GDP) per capita are closely correlated. To this effect, since she took office in 2013, Korea's first female president, Madame Park Geun-hye, has been stressing the importance of creating a society where no social or cultural limitations hinder women's career development.