Women's welfare attitudes in South Korea

Abstract

Many scholars argue that gender affects welfare attitudes: women support welfare policies more than men in most welfare societies. However, in South Korea, women tend to oppose welfare policies or show no gender gap in welfare attitudes. As welfare programs in South Korea are expanding, I investigate whether women's attitudes towards welfare policies have changed and if they differ based on self-interest. I analysed welfare attitude data from the Korea Welfare Panel Study (KoWePS) for 2013 and 2022 using ordered logistic regression models, finding that women in South Korea supported almost all welfare policies less than men. However, in terms of income redistribution and free preschool and childcare service provision, there were no gender differences observed. Furthermore, cleavages among women were found regarding attitudes towards support for the unemployed and free preschool and childcare service provision based on self-interest. Additionally, progressive women exhibited more supportive attitudes across all domains of welfare.