As a result of the rise in the economic activities by married women, change in family composition, expansion of poverty-stricken class, decline in the average number of children per household and increase in the number of family headed by lone parent ...
As a result of the rise in the economic activities by married women, change in family composition, expansion of poverty-stricken class, decline in the average number of children per household and increase in the number of family headed by lone parent in the industrialized modern society, the social responsibility for child bearing and education has never been emphasized as much as now.
In 2006, the Korea National Statistical Office reported that the labor force participation rate by women was only 53% for those in their early 30s whereas it stood at 67.3% and 65.6% respectively in their 20s and 40s reaching almost 70%. The sharp fall in the participation rate is a consequence of most women being forced to leave work for child birth and care after marriage. This finding implies that nursery facilities fall greatly short in Korea though they are a crucial factor for the society of high economic activity rate to operate smoothly. Furthermore, the types of job held by women greatly vary across age classes.
According to the Korea Employment Information Service, women in their 20s were more likely to work in the areas of health and medicine (36.4%), education and research (25.9%) and finance and insurance (17.3%) while those in their 40s were involved in the elementary work such as food service (35.4%), textile and clothing (29.8%) or publication, furniture, craft production (14.0%) in 2005. This is a clear indication that when returning to work after child-care in their 40s, women have difficulty in regaining the same social position as in their 30s. As this is a period when children develop emotional sensitivity and intelligence which can affect their life for long, working women face a conflicting choice between work and duty of child-care.
Even when real economy sinks down and consumption confidence falls during the worldwide economic downturn initiated by the credit crunch crisis in the US, the spending on the private education does not shrink at all. It is a good example showing how anxious Koreans are about their children's education. Early age education such as art and physical education in the style of game or play or attendance to English nurseries and early-age elite schools accounts for the most significant part of private education. Since one's infancy is when they set affection on their mother and when their characteristics are formed in the relationship with her, women may feel pressurized by the fact that they cannot spare much time for children education and have to continue economic activities for living. As a solution to this kind of problems, firms have provided nursery facilities for women. Thanks to the facilities provided, working parents become freer from child caring duty and are able to focus more on their work. Along with the mental stability, they enjoy economic benefits in terms of child caring and education, improvement of relationship with their own children and decrease in the amount of household chores. Furthermore, while being cared for and educated in the facilities, children can acknowledge the absence of their mother more easily and firms can recruit and retain talented staff by providing the facilities at work and hence gain efficiency through improved work attitude of employees in the form of increased labor productivity and decline in absence, late arrival and early leaving. Though the companies' nursery facilities offer various advantages, they are not always a place of fun for the children who have to stay there more than 14 hours a day. After basic hours of learning offered, the remaining time during which children wait for their parents may be wasteful and they may become emotionally unstabilized. This study intends to find the ways in which children can enjoy themselves through games and plays during this time.
As children's daily life is filled with various plays in the given circumstances, what kind of play a child is in is equal to what kind of environment he/she is experiencing.
This study seeks for alternative solutions to problems arisen to working women as to child caring by suggesting various forms of space and places in which children can develop and grow freely.