Earticle

In an attempt to illuminate the lives of elderly women, this article has studied the economical situation and economical well-being felt by the elderly women dwelling in the southwestern coastal islands of Korea. In this article, we have attempted to conduct a consolidated research that incorporates both qualitative as well as quantitative research methods. The researched areas included 6 islands. Here are the main results. : 1) The elderly women living in the islands were enduring various forms of excessive labor, and there were many cases where these women didn't receive adequate amount of compensation. There should be more considerations made by the locals and proper restrictions should be brought out in order to prevent these women from conducting excessive and hazardous tasks. 2) Due to unpropitious economical situations, the majority of the elderly women living in these islands were incapable of saving money. There should be a plan devised to empower the economical capabilities of these elderly women that will elicit economical effects. 3) The degree of economical well-being that these elderly women felt was very low, both in the absolute level of economical satisfactions, as well as the relative level of economical satisfactions compared to the people living in the cities. There should be an incorporated effort conducted by the elderly women themselves, the local society, and the relevant offices to increase the level of economical well-being that are felt by these elderly women.

The purpose of this study is to identify the characteristics of the household labors that are performed by dual income families. The methodology that has been applied in this study was a qualitative research based on in-depth interviews of a total of 10 people(8 housewives, 2 husbands) selected from the 8 different families. The 8 different families have been selected in order to identify the different family lives and the various household labor patterns that are conducted by both the working husband and the working wife. As a result, we have found out that working wives still had to manage their time in an extremely busy manner in order to balance their professional work with their household tasks. However, the household work that was being shared by the husbands also seemed to vary dynamically according to the different family situations. Although, it has shown that household tasks are divided by the person's sex, the amount of household tasks that are shared tended to increase according to the life cycle of each family.

The purposes of this study were to (1) examine the sub-dimensions of time management behaviors and satisfaction with time management, and (2) to identify the variables that can affect satisfaction with time management. Data was collected through an Internet survey answered by 611 working men and women. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and multiple linear regression analysis. As a result of the study, the sub-dimensions of time management behaviour were extracted into three subordinate categories, which were, planning, human relation orientation, and urgency. The sub-dimensions of the satisfaction with time management were extracted into three subordinate categories, which were, satisfaction with the management results, satisfaction with time distribution, and satisfaction of spare time. Management result satisfaction displayed a positive relationship with planning and work time. The satisfaction with time distribution displayed a positively relationship with planning, relations-intention, the level of education, and sleeping time, while displaying a negative relationship with work time. Also, Women tended to be more satisfied with time distribution than men. Finally, the satisfaction of spare time was positively related with age, while negatively related to urgency and work time.

The political activity of women is relatively low. This is mainly because of the social-cultural attitude that confines women's role to housewives, rather than the structural problems that are related to political activities itself. This study has attempted to enhance the political activities of women by examining and providing the practical informations related to the hardships that are experienced by women who are pursuing a career both as a politician as well as a housewife. The sample of this study consisted of women who are assuming chief executives positions in organizations that are related to political activity, including local representatives of the national assembly. A case study was conducted by interviewing 8 female politicians. The contents of the study mostly consists of the personal situations (related to house lives) of these women. Semi-structured questionnaires were used, and the interview was conducted several times. First, the political careers of these women tended to start passively, rather than voluntarily. Second, the negative attitudes that were initially displayed by the family members and close relatives had changed positively through out the course of time. Close relatives, parents/parents-in-law were likely to become helpers of child care and household labor. The husband was likely to be a supporter of the wife's political career, and the children started to understand the roles of their mother as they grew up. Third, the female politicians perceived that the main impediments of women pursuing political careers were the sexually discriminating culture, rather than their own ability. Fourth, the fact that these women had to spend a lot of time outside the house has worsened the role conflict and difficulties of these women who are required to assume dual-roles. Furthermore, the difficulties that are faced publicly and privately has increased the psychological burdens of these women, since politicians, in general, are people who need to maintain their public image.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the needs and demands of middle-aged women concerning the educational contents of tea-culture, the managing methods of educational programs, and a plan to invigorate tea culture education as a whole. Here is the summary of the main results. 1) The need for tea-culture education scored an average of 4.14 / 5(maximum score). The actual needs for tea-culture education had varied according to the women's place of living, educational motives, and the desire to become lecturers in the future. That is, the actual needs for tea-culture education scored high among the groups who displayed strong personal motives to cultivate their inner minds and learn tea-culture seriously, groups who lived in SeoulㆍTaeguㆍCheonju, and groups who wanted to become future lecturers. 2) The need for a systematic management of tea-culture educational programs scored an average of 4.10 / 5(maximum score). The need for a management of tea-culture educational programs varied according to the women's educational level and their desire to become future lecturers. That is, the need for a systematic management of tea-culture educational programs scored high among groups whose educational level was high, and groups who wanted to become future lecturers. 3) The need for a plan to invigorate tea-culture education scored an average of 4.05 / 5(maximum score). The need for a plan to invigorate tea-culture education varied according to the women's place of living, educational level, the managing subject of educational organizations, the desire to become future lecturers. That is, the need for a plan to invigorate tea-culture education scored high among the groups who lived in SeoulㆍTaeguㆍCheonju, groups whose educational level was high, groups who were members of life-long educational facilities within universities, and groups who desired to become future lecturers.

This research has studied the people's perception and understanding of the "Healthy Family Act" that has been enacted and practised from the year 2005. For this purpose, a survey has been conducted during October 2004 in several central and local cities in Korea, including Seoul, and a total of 741 samples have been used for the final analysis. The results of this study is as follows. The participants showed a very low level of recognition of the "Healthy Family Act", and they Perceived that establishing a home-friendly atmosphere was of primary importance among the tasks that should be conducted by the State and local governments to encourage "healthy families" The participants chose "supporting the mental & physical health of family members" for the government supporting programs to make healthy families, and chose "healthy life cultures such as clothes, food, and housing" for the government programs to support the everyday living cultures of the people. 1 Two thirds(2/3) of the participants indicated a willingness to participate in voluntary activities, and more than half of the participants said that they will participate in educational programs. Also, the participants indicated that divorce counselling should be offered only to the people who want the counselling, and as far as "contents" are concerned, the participants indicated that "the upbringing of children" should be the most important subject of the counselling. Finally, the participants indicated a willingness of participating educational programs in the order of parent education, family ethics education, realization of family values and family life education.

The study was first part of the research on development of consumer education program as social education program. The purpose of this study was to review social consumer education programs conducted by various organizations and to examine the consulting statistics from Korea Consumer Protection Board and Korea National Council of Consumer Organizations. In Consumer Protection Board, consumer education was operated mainly for both college students majored in consumer studies and public-sector workers. Outgoing education was provided mainly to the persons in industries and housewives. Other consumer organizations conducted consumer education using government funds. The organizations considered "purchasing" and "consumerism" most frequently as the topics for the education. "Credit" and "insurance" were another main concerns at the education. The consulting statistics showed that "mobile communication", "laundry service", "health foods", and "educational materials for foreign language" took the largest portion of the consumer consulting. Some implications were made for developing consumer education program as social education.