가정 정보화와 성별 분업

Information Technology and Gender Division of Household Work

The purpose of the present study is to examine the impact of an information technology on the gender division of household work. In doing so, the following questions were raised: 1) What are the actual situation of the application and the use of information technology in Korean homes? 2) How does the information technology influence domestic gender division of labor? Does the use of information technology at home increase or decrease women's domestic burden? 3) Therefore, will be the actual change in the gender role and women's scans in the future society? The data were obtained by documents from the government and various social institutions, and survey data were spplemented by in-edpth interviews. Main discussions of the study can be summarized as follows: First, the degree of informationalization of domestic affairs is relatively low in Korea, A number of women who are using home automation system and/or home information system are small. Housewives do not use these systems effectively, and hardly know about functions of the systems, even though they own the systems. Second, Korean middle-class housewives have shown more or less understanding of the information technology and its use of domestic affairs such as, the home automation system and the home information system. Despite the actual use of the computer is essential in the information society, however, housewives have shown the low level of knowledge about the computer. Only a few respondents have reported that they can use the computer. Third, respondents have recognized the necessity of information communication sevices through a computer terminal to homes. These services include information about shopping, banking, cultural events, tourism, the stock market, and so on. Fourth, housewives spend more time for domestic work than other household members and are not receiving help from others. Although a women employed outside less time, she remains the household member primarily responsible for the household. Electric home appliances and advanced home automations can rationalize and make domestic work efficient, but the primary responsibility for the work will be still held by women. Finally, respondents tend to show traditional attitudes toward the gender division of household work. They have predicted the doemstic gender division of labor will be maintained in the future information society. A compurterized household can liberate women from some household chores and yet impose on them the responsbility for other household work, including nuturing. We may conclude that women have not been or will not be freed from household labor and their housewife role. The most important thing is not the technology but the social structure that maintains the patriarchal social order and women's subordination.