RELIGIOUS BELIEFS, EMPLOYMENT CHOICES AND GENDER NORMS
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Date
2023
Authors
Talapkerova, Lola
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
School of Sciences and Humanities
Abstract
Religious values do not disappear in modern society: they adapt and continue to shape
the consciousness of people worldwide. This paper studies how religious beliefs influence
people’s economic decisions and their gender attitudes in a religiously diverse South Korean
society. A literature review on the subject suggests that, in theory, Buddhism should display
a less ”worldly” orientation and ambiguous gender roles. At the same time, Christianity is
associated with higher materialism and a more strict gender division of labor. However, the
historical context reveals that Confucian patriarchal values heavily influenced both Catholicism
and Buddhism in South Korea, while Protestantism reflects a more materialistic and
less gender-discriminating worldview. We work with the data from the Korean General Social
Survey from 2003 up to 2021. Multinomial probabilistic model and instrumental variable
approach were used to examine the correlation between Korea’s three main religious denominations:
Protestantism, Catholicism and Buddhism and people’s employment choices,
income levels and gender division within families. Our findings align with the assumption
that religious people tend to work less and share more strict gender norms. Both male and
female practitioners are less likely to work full-time than atheists, and men are more likely
to work part-time. Women of all religions have lower probabilities of earning higher than
average income levels. Our results also reflect the Confucian influence on South Korean
Buddhism and Catholicism, which resulted in a more traditional worldview: women in Buddhist
and Catholic families are less likely to work than married Protestants and non-religious
women.
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Keywords
Type of access: Restricted, Religious beliefs, employment choices, gender norms
Citation
Talapkerova, L. (2023). Religious beliefs, employment choices and gender norms. School of Sciences and Humanities