By Kim Jae-kyoung
Staff Reporter

Korean women became the breadwinners for their families in one out of five households as their participation in economic activities grew in line with higher educational backgrounds.

In a report titled, ``A Look Into Korean Women’s Lives,’’ the National Statistical Office (NSO) said yesterday that female household heads accounted for 19.5 percent of the total this year, up from 18.5 percent in 2000 and 16.6 percent in 1995.



``More women become engaged in professional, high-income occupations, benefiting from the improvement in their educational background,’’ an NSO official said. ``The latest statistics indicate that the female role is growing socially and economically.’’
In 2004, 49.8 percent of Korean females participated in economic activities, up from 39.3 percent in 1970. But it is still well below the Korean males’ economic participation rate of 74.8 percent.

Women accounted for 34 percent of all public servants in 2003, up from 24.2 percent in 1990. Also, women took up for 38.4 percent and 24.3 percent of those who passed the civil service and bar examinations, respectively, in 2004, up from 25.1 percent and 18.9 percent in 2000.

Women accounted for 18.4 percent of all doctors last year, up from 13.3 percent from 1975, while they took 13 percent of all National Assembly seats, up from 5.9 percent in 2000.

As a result, 16.9 percent of working women were classified as having professional jobs, compared with 2.4 percent in 1970.

The female college entrance rate reached 79.7 percent last year, up from 65 percent in 2000.

Among students who earned master’s degrees, 41.4 percent of all degree earners were women, while 24.4 percent doctoral degree holders were females.

Still, females remain far behind males in wage level, with their average income equivalent to only 56 percent of their counterparts in 2004. The turnover rate of females in the workplace was 131.3 percent when that of males was set at an index of 100.

Despite a rise in the number of working mothers, women still do more housework than men. Women were responsible for all household chores among 91.4 percent of Korean families. Only 7.4 percent of families shared house chores between spouses.

As many as 72.4 percent of females said they felt gender discrimination that results from stereotyping.

The birth rate, the average number of children that a woman gives birth to in her lifetime, stood at 1.19 in 2003, the first rise in three years. In 2002, the ratio was an all-time low of 1.17.

The first marriage age for woman has risen to 27.5 last year, up from 26.5 in 2000 and 23.4 in 1985 The average marriage rate, which represents the number of married couples out of every 1,000 persons, rose to 6.4 last year from 6.3 a year ago.

In 2005, the female population came to 23.96 million, accounting for 49.6 percent of the nation’s total population of 48.29 million.

kjk@koreatimes.co.kr