일하는 여성 보육지원 강화 방안

Abstract

This study aimed to develop new child-care policies for working mothers that could be practiced by communities and their workplaces, which has been done on the base of reviewing the problems of mothers with both young children and out-of-home jobs. Concrete purposes of this study are as follows: a. To analyze the characteristics of current policies for supporting child-care and suggest ideas for improving them especially for working mothers b. To investigate the current states, appropriateness, needs, and effectiveness of existing child-care supporting policies in companies c. To review child-care policies for working mothers in foreign countries and discover applicable implications from them d. To suggest ideas for developing the policies of child-care in workplaces including small size companies. The research methods for this study are literature review, surveys, and holding forums. We have reviewed given statistics, previous studies, and current policies related to women's labor and child-care supports in workplaces of Korea and other countries. For the surveys, we collected data from three different groups: those who are in charge of child-care policies in 772 companies, 191 directors who manage child-care facilities attached to companies, and 1093 parents who send their children to child-care facilities that are managed by their companies. The surveys were performed via phone or mail. For the forums, several specialists and consultants in this field who work in universities, research institutes, and the central government gathered 5 times and discussed about their ideas for improving national policies for child-care, especially for working women's families. In the conclusion, we suggested two different approaches to elaborate child-care policies for mothers with jobs according to the results of analyzing data, literature reviews, and meetings with consultants: First, child-care policies in the community should be more focused on working mothers with young children. To achieve this, we, above all, suggested that child-care facilities in the public sector should be more increased than those in the private sector. Developing various types of child-care such as time-extension, weekend/holiday services, and 24-hour services, giving priority to working mothers in using child-care facilities, paying the child-care cost by hours, improving tax credit regulation, and utilizing in-home child-care services should also be considered. Second, policy makers should pay more attention to leading companies to provide child-care services with their female employees with young children. They should increase the number of child-care facilities attached to companies, help companies support their child-care facilities, and improve the ways to support companies by providing a standard cost for child-care in workplace and establishing a standard criteria for financial duty of the companies. In addition, the government should make efforts to improve the quality of child-care program, working environments for staffs, and the connections with regular child-care facilities in the community, especially for child-care services managed by companies.