Fatherhood changing in East Asia: Dads get into parenting and housework

A transformation in fatherhood is quietly unfolding across East Asia, challenging decades-old gender roles as more men step into active parenting and household responsibilities. The shift is particularly visible in Japan, where paternity leave uptake has surged to 30% in 2023, a dramatic increase from just 2% a decade ago, reports The Economist.

Ito Tsubasa exemplifies this change. Initially reluctant to take parental leave during his wife’s second pregnancy, he eventually relented, spending six months at home, and it revolutionised his perspective on fatherhood. “I used to think I was a great dad just because I played with the child on the weekends,” says Ito, now father to children aged eight and four. “I couldn’t have been more wrong.” Today, he shares household duties equally with his wife.

Dual-income families

The trend coincides with rising female participation in the workforce. Japan’s employment rate for women aged 25 to 39 exceeded 80 per cent for the first time in 2022, while South Korea reports 74 per cent employment among women aged 25 to 29. Dual-income households now represent over 60 per cent of the families in Japan and Taiwan, and nearly half in South Korea.

Although Japan and South Korea have some of the world’s most generous paternity leave policies— both offer fathers a full year of paid leave—cultural barriers persist. Young employees often hesitate to use these benefits for fear of displeasing their ageing male managers. When men do take leave, it tends to be brief—most Japanese fathers take less than two weeks, while 95 per cent of mothers take six months or more.

Taiwan presents a more progressive picture, with a narrower gender pay gap of 15 per cent compared to South Korea’s 31 per cent and Japan’s 21 per cent. According to the World Values Survey, 64 per cent of Taiwanese men are comfortable with wives earning more than husbands, compared with only 26 per cent of the Japanese and 28 per cent of the South Korean men. However, Taiwan’s parental leave policy caps monthly payments at NT$36,640 (about $1,100), deterring higher earners from taking extended leave.

Men, housework and fertility rates

The evolution in fatherhood could help address East Asia’s demographic crisis. Research by economist Matthias Doepke of the London School of Economics suggests a positive correlation between men’s participation in housework and fertility rates in wealthy nations. This finding gains significance as South Korea’s fertility rate hits a record low of 0.72, with Japan at 1.2 and Taiwan at 0.87.

As demonstrated by Taiwanese father Teng Kai-yuan, who splits housework equally with his wife and dedicates weekends to family activities, the new generation of fathers is determined to break with traditional patterns. “Both my wife and I hated the fact that our fathers did not spend time with us,” he says, reflecting a broader desire for change in paternal involvement across the region.

Featured image by Prexels (for illustration purposes only)