comparatve study on the public long-term care insurance.docVIP

Long-Term Care Policy in South Korea and Japan : From a Gender Perspective This paper will be presented at the RC19 annual conference at Florence University, 6-8 September 2007. Si Yeon Won BK21 Governance Programme, Sung Kyun Kwan University Long-Term Care Policy in South Korea and Japan : From a Gender Perspective Si Yeon Won Abstract Ageing has been one of the most important social issues in South Korea and Japan. This paper seeks to examine the two countries’ Long-Term Care LTC policy from a gender perspective, which focuses on different impact of LTC policy to both genders. In particular, this paper adopts the perspectives for care-givers and care-receivers in order to analyze the gendered nature of LTC policy. In the care-receiver’s side, women are expected to be the main beneficiaries of LTC, because the portion of women in the elderly is much bigger than that of men. However, women are more likely to fall outside LTC insurance, partly because social insurance system itself has been based on economic contribution of the insured and partly because the gendered labor market structure has marginalized women’s status in employment. As women’s economic conditions have been restricted by their care-giving roles within families and irregular economic careers which can affect their old-age pension, women’s access to the public LTC service are likely to be limited. In the care-giver’s side, women’s care has not been appreciated fully whether it is paid or not because of the gendered nature of care. Until recently women’s responsibility of care-giving within households has been taken for granted; nevertheless, different conditions which both gender has faced have not been considered as significantly in Korea and Japan. Therefore, the investigation on the different gender impact of LTC is meaningful to South Korea and Japan. Key Words: Long-Term Care LTC , South Korea, Japan, Gender Introduction Not until the early 1990s, did the mainstream welfare state rese