Research

Peer-Reviewed Publications (*equal authorship)


Fritz, Marni*, Um, Sejin* and Barbara J. Risman. 2024. Enforced Togetherness: Change and Continuity in Relationship Satisfaction among Parents during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Social Sciences 13(7): 352. [LINK]

This paper investigates how the sharp increase in time spent at home due to COVID-19-related restrictions shaped parents’ relationship satisfaction with their partners. Drawing on 78 in-depth interviews with heterosexual partnered parents with at least one child aged 18 or under, we find that this experience of what we call “enforced togetherness” had varied effects on couples’ relationships. More than half of the respondents (fifty-five percent) reported improved relationship satisfaction, while fifteen percent reported a decline, and the remaining thirty percent no change. Individuals with higher satisfaction took advantage of enforced togetherness and sought out more frequent and intense communication and leisure activities, underscoring the importance of spending time in strengthening relationships. On the other hand, those who were unable or unwilling to engage in these activities, due to lack of support for increased care needs and their continued uneven distribution across the couple, saw their relationships deteriorate. Finally, individuals experienced stability in their relationships when their prior routines and arrangements remained largely undisrupted by the pandemic. Our findings shed light on the significance of time as a valuable resource for couples’ relationships, while at the same time emphasizing the role of their agency in its utilization.

Um, Sejin*, Kou, Anne*, Waldrep, Carolyn E. and Kathleen Gerson. 2024. Contrasting Conceptions of Work-Family Balance and the Implications for Satisfaction with Balance during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Social Sciences 13(5): 236. [LINK]

Pandemic-related changes, including the expansion of remote work and the closure of schools and daycare supports, posed unprecedented challenges to parents’ conceptions of their work and home routines. Drawing on interviews with 88 heterosexual partnered parents, we examine the different ways parents understand what it means to balance work and family responsibilities and how their conceptions shaped satisfaction with their balance during the COVID-19 pandemic. First, we discover that parents held three distinct conceptions of work–family balance at the outset of the pandemic: (1) individualistic (where balance is understood as an individual pursuit and regarded independently of their partner’s efforts in the work and family spheres), (2) specialized (where each partner specializes in one sphere, producing balance between spheres), and (3) egalitarian (where partners share responsibilities in both spheres). Next, among the women and men who held specialized or egalitarian conceptions of balance, most sustained their level of satisfaction. In contrast, among those with individualistic conceptions, most women (but not men) reported a change in their satisfaction. These findings provide new insights about the varied meanings people attach to the concept of “work–family balance” and how these diverse conceptions have consequences for satisfaction with gender dynamics in households. 

Um, Sejin. 2023. The Militarized Workplace: How Organizational Culture Perpetuates Gender Inequality in Korea. Gender, Work & Organization 30(5): 1676-1693. [LINK]

This study advances our understandings of gender inequality in organizations by examining the experiences of young women who leave their jobs even in the absence of family responsibilities. Based on 29 in-depth interviews with young women who left full-time employment at large Korean firms early in their careers, complemented by interviews with 16 men who also resigned from these companies, I find that women's experiences and decisions to quit are critically shaped by what I term militarized workplace culture and practices. The militarized workplace is a work organization where core military values and mechanisms have been integrated and are reproduced to such an extent that organizational culture is saturated with military discipline. Within the militarized workplace, rigid hierarchies and male-only informal networks marginalize and exclude women, and norms of overwork and complete availability undermine women's aspirations of long-term employment. By demonstrating the roles that male conscription and the military play in shaping organizational culture and its gendered outcomes, these findings provide insight into how external institutions operate as a source of gender inequality at the organizational level. 

Book Chapter (*equal authorship)

Fritz, Marni*, Um, Sejin*, and Barbara J. Risman. 2024. “The New (Post-COVID) Normal? Workplace Flexibility Matters." in Rutter, Virginia E., Williams, Kristi, and Barbara J. Risman (eds). Families As They Really Are, 3rd edition, W. W. Norton & Company.

Work In Preparation

Um, Sejin. “Stagnation Anxiety: The Hidden Costs of Security in a Culture of Enterprise."

Um, Sejin. “The Family Trap: How Men Navigate the Ideal Worker Norm in an Age of Insecurity.”