Gender Discrimination in the Workplace: Effects on Pregnancy Planning and Childbirth among South Korean Women
<i>Introduction</i>: This study aims to investigate the association between gender discrimination in the workplace and pregnancy planning/childbirth experiences among working women in South Korea. <i>Methods</i>: We analyzed data from the Korean Longitudinal Survey of Women a...
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doaj-94b99309afc043dd9d414ae48c1c49112020-11-25T02:22:56ZengMDPI AGInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health1660-46012019-07-011615267210.3390/ijerph16152672ijerph16152672Gender Discrimination in the Workplace: Effects on Pregnancy Planning and Childbirth among South Korean WomenJi-Hye Kim0Sarah Soyeon Oh1Suk Won Bae2Eun-Cheol Park3Sung-In Jang4Department of Public Health, Graduate School, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, KoreaDepartment of Public Health, Graduate School, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, KoreaDepartment of Public Health, Graduate School, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, KoreaDepartment of Public Health, Graduate School, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, KoreaDepartment of Public Health, Graduate School, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Korea<i>Introduction</i>: This study aims to investigate the association between gender discrimination in the workplace and pregnancy planning/childbirth experiences among working women in South Korea. <i>Methods</i>: We analyzed data from the Korean Longitudinal Survey of Women and Families (KLoWF) for the years 2007 to 2016. The study population consisted of 7996 working women, between the ages of 19 and 45. Gender discrimination was measured through the 6-item Workplace Gender Discrimination Scale, evaluating discrimination in terms of recruitment, promotions, pay, deployment, training and lay-offs. Multiple logistic regression analysis was employed to measure the association between gender discrimination and the pregnancy planning/childbirth experience. <i>Results</i>: Compared to individuals experiencing no discrimination in the workplace, those experiencing low [odds ratio (OR): 0.78, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.61−0.99] or medium (OR: 0.69, 95% CI: 0.54−0.89) levels of discrimination had decreased odds of pregnancy planning. Likewise, individuals scoring low (OR: 0.70, 95% CI 0.54−0.92), medium (OR: 0.68, 95% CI: 0.51−0.92), or high (OR: 0.47, 95% CI: 0.27−0.80) levels of discrimination also had decreased odds of childbirth experience when compared to the no-experience group. When stratified by income, compared to individuals experiencing no discrimination in the workplace, those experiencing gender discrimination had decreased odds of pregnancy planning for low income (low OR: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.45−0.92; medium OR: 0.55, 95% CI: 0.52−0.97; high OR: 0.45, 95% CI: 0.24−0.87), medium income (medium OR: 0.53, 95% CI: 0.37−0.77; high OR: 0.29, 95% CI: 0.14−0.63), and high income groups (low OR: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.49−0.84; medium OR: 0.69, 95% CI: 0.52−0.92). <i>Conclusions</i>: The present study finds that gender discrimination in the workplace is associated with decreased odds of pregnancy planning/childbirth experience among working South Korean women. Furthermore, low and medium income groups were especially more likely to be affected by the level of gender discrimination in the workplace when planning pregnancy.https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/15/2672workplace gender discriminationsexual discriminationfertilitypregnancy planning |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Ji-Hye Kim Sarah Soyeon Oh Suk Won Bae Eun-Cheol Park Sung-In Jang |
spellingShingle |
Ji-Hye Kim Sarah Soyeon Oh Suk Won Bae Eun-Cheol Park Sung-In Jang Gender Discrimination in the Workplace: Effects on Pregnancy Planning and Childbirth among South Korean Women International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health workplace gender discrimination sexual discrimination fertility pregnancy planning |
author_facet |
Ji-Hye Kim Sarah Soyeon Oh Suk Won Bae Eun-Cheol Park Sung-In Jang |
author_sort |
Ji-Hye Kim |
title |
Gender Discrimination in the Workplace: Effects on Pregnancy Planning and Childbirth among South Korean Women |
title_short |
Gender Discrimination in the Workplace: Effects on Pregnancy Planning and Childbirth among South Korean Women |
title_full |
Gender Discrimination in the Workplace: Effects on Pregnancy Planning and Childbirth among South Korean Women |
title_fullStr |
Gender Discrimination in the Workplace: Effects on Pregnancy Planning and Childbirth among South Korean Women |
title_full_unstemmed |
Gender Discrimination in the Workplace: Effects on Pregnancy Planning and Childbirth among South Korean Women |
title_sort |
gender discrimination in the workplace: effects on pregnancy planning and childbirth among south korean women |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health |
issn |
1660-4601 |
publishDate |
2019-07-01 |
description |
<i>Introduction</i>: This study aims to investigate the association between gender discrimination in the workplace and pregnancy planning/childbirth experiences among working women in South Korea. <i>Methods</i>: We analyzed data from the Korean Longitudinal Survey of Women and Families (KLoWF) for the years 2007 to 2016. The study population consisted of 7996 working women, between the ages of 19 and 45. Gender discrimination was measured through the 6-item Workplace Gender Discrimination Scale, evaluating discrimination in terms of recruitment, promotions, pay, deployment, training and lay-offs. Multiple logistic regression analysis was employed to measure the association between gender discrimination and the pregnancy planning/childbirth experience. <i>Results</i>: Compared to individuals experiencing no discrimination in the workplace, those experiencing low [odds ratio (OR): 0.78, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.61−0.99] or medium (OR: 0.69, 95% CI: 0.54−0.89) levels of discrimination had decreased odds of pregnancy planning. Likewise, individuals scoring low (OR: 0.70, 95% CI 0.54−0.92), medium (OR: 0.68, 95% CI: 0.51−0.92), or high (OR: 0.47, 95% CI: 0.27−0.80) levels of discrimination also had decreased odds of childbirth experience when compared to the no-experience group. When stratified by income, compared to individuals experiencing no discrimination in the workplace, those experiencing gender discrimination had decreased odds of pregnancy planning for low income (low OR: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.45−0.92; medium OR: 0.55, 95% CI: 0.52−0.97; high OR: 0.45, 95% CI: 0.24−0.87), medium income (medium OR: 0.53, 95% CI: 0.37−0.77; high OR: 0.29, 95% CI: 0.14−0.63), and high income groups (low OR: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.49−0.84; medium OR: 0.69, 95% CI: 0.52−0.92). <i>Conclusions</i>: The present study finds that gender discrimination in the workplace is associated with decreased odds of pregnancy planning/childbirth experience among working South Korean women. Furthermore, low and medium income groups were especially more likely to be affected by the level of gender discrimination in the workplace when planning pregnancy. |
topic |
workplace gender discrimination sexual discrimination fertility pregnancy planning |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/15/2672 |
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