Beginning last July the Korean Women Workers Associations United (KWWAU), along with the Korean Women's Association for Democracy and Sisterhood and the Korean Women Researchers Association carried out the first phase of a research project called, 'Making the State Responsible for Maternity Protection Costs.' The following article summarizes the contents of this project, which KWWAU plans to continue unti1 1994.
Whenever a phase of this project is completed, the results will be published so that they may be used by women's organizations and activists in the workplace.
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Are protection and equality compatible concepts?
- According to international standards for protection and equality used by the UN and ILO, such protective measures as maternity leave which are directed related to women's capacity for pregnancy and childbirth are being strengthened, while other protective measures which have only been applied to women without relation to pregnancy are being applied equally to men.
In addition, the problem of child-rearing is considered to be the responsibility of the broader society, while within the home, it is considered to rest equally with both the mother and father.
We believe that in the long run, Korea must also keep pace with these international trends. The problem, however, is that Korea's labor conditions remain far below western standards, while the government is attempting to eliminate or reduce protective measures for women workers without ofFering any altematives.
Recently, the Ministry of Labor considered labor 1aw reform measures such as repealing limits on nighttime work and work hour extensions, making menstruation leave unpaid when requested by the worker, and relaxing provisions forbidding women from working rn certain jobs.
We cannot accept the explanation that companies are hesitant to hire women because of the excessive number of protective measures for women. This is further evident from survey results which indicate that the top priority of both government and business in labor force development lies in attracting married women and temporary workers. Rather, the hesitancy to hire women lies with the fact that companies have thusfar been held fiscally responsible for maternity protection costs.
The reason that protective measures have not been implemented to the minimum legal standard also lies with this fiscal burden. We oppose the repea1 of protective measures for women workers for this reason..
- State policies in the West regarding maternity protection.
The United Kingdom presently has a socia1 welfare system which includes a health care provision with free medical service for all citizens, a retirement pension plan, an industrial injury allowance, and unemployment benefits.
In the national insurance section of this welfare system is a set of maternity protection provisions, which guarantee income for women during the time they take off for childbirth.
This protection plan stipulates that a woman who becomes pregnant after more than six months of work will receive from her employer a weekly pay for 18 weeks regardless of whether the woman returns to work after childbirth The average weekly pay in the ei?t weeks before childbirth must also exceed minimum national insurance payment.
This allowance can be received 30 weeks after a woman becomes pregnant, and she take her leave between 30 to 35 weeks after becoming pregnant. Even women who are not eligible for these benefits can receive childbirth allowances in the form of childbirth allowance payments, allowances for i1lnesses, and one-time payments to hospital fees.
In the case of Sweden, the maternity protection benefits related to childbirth and pregnancy operate like those of United Kingdom as part of the national guaranteed income policy, but its administration is included under the health insurance structure. Through this health insurance scheme, women can receive, in-kind, pregnancy allowances, delivery fees, parental insurance, and child-nursing pay.
From 60 days before the expected date of childbirth, women can request to be moved to 1ighter work, and if this is not possible, they can receive an additional pregnancy allowance.
In addition, according to health care laws, all medical services, beginning with long-term medical examinations, are provided at no cost. Regardless of whether a mother returns to work, she is given a one-time newborn-child allowance (part of the childbirth allowance) to cover expenses. The basic maternity leave lasts 12 weeks (six weeks before and after childbirth respectively).
The 15-month parental insurance system (i. e. , leave needed for childbirth) provides 90 percent of the worker's income for 12 months, then provides pay at a predetermined level for three months afterwards.
In 1990, the parental insurance period was extended to 18 months at a 90 percent of income provision rate. Labor unions within the manufacturing industry are currently pushing for a further extension of the parental insurance period to 24 months, and are suggesting that for 18 of these months, men and women should have the right to divide up the leave time provided.
- Problems in Korea's policy regarding maternity protection
The f0110wing table lists the maternity protection provisions included in the Basic Labor Standards Law and the Gender Equality in Employment Law:
The following lists maternity protection regulations in Korea :Company responsibility Penalties for violation Menstruation leave 1-day paid leave per month under W 5,000,000 Maternity leave 60-day paid leave under 2 years imprisonment or under W 10,000,000 penality Childcare leave under under 1 year under 1 year under W 2,500,000 -
Barring any special circumstances, maternity leave allowances will be provided in kind within three days of childbirth for mothers with less than three children. As these allowances constitute insurance benefits, "in-kind benefits will consist of the health insurance administrative organization's payment of insurance costs to the hospital.
- If the child is delivered in a place different from where medical treatment was received, the childbirth allowance will be paid by the labor union after childbirth (W 400 for the first childbirth, W 46,400 for second and all successive childbirths).
- The amount of childbirth allowance is determined by the labor union constitution within a maximum of W 50.000. However, as the determination of the amount by the union is done on a voluntary basis, no union has carried out this right as of yet.
The 60-day maternity leave is far below the ILO standard of 12 weeks. Even in Thailand, where the leve1 of economic deve1opment is far behind Korea, maternity leave of 90 days is provided. Moreover, income provisions are not even mentioned, and there is no basis to establish a subsistence level pay guarantee system during time of leave.
Currently, paid childcare leave can be received only by forming individual agreements with the company. Third, the childbirth allowance and hospital fee provisions included in the health insurance scheme are limited. There are also no insurance benefits to cover medica1 examinations during pregnancy. As unions are not ensuring that childbirth allowances are paid, this regulation has become a dead letter.
- If the child is delivered in a place different from where medical treatment was received, the childbirth allowance will be paid by the labor union after childbirth (W 400 for the first childbirth, W 46,400 for second and all successive childbirths).
- Results of a survey on the status of Korean maternity protection
From August to October 1993, KWWAU distributed questionnaires to labor union officers in 94 workplaces in the manufacturing, banking, and medical fields. 94 is a small sampling, but is helpful in drawing out general trends.
First, surveys showed little difficulty in receiving menstruation and maternity leaves, but the number of workers who actually use these provisions remains remarkably low. Pregnancy or childbirth is often linked, as always, with being laid off from work.
With menstruation leave, 50 percent of the workplaces surveyed were said to allow free usage, while 17 percent cited difficulties. In the case of maternity leave, 78 percent of' the workplaces allowed free usage; 3 percent, only a portion of the leave allowed and 5.3 percent, no usage.
Survey results showed that workers could not freely use their leave for miscarriage and childcare. 58.5 percent responded that they had no previous usage of miscarriage leave. The fact that childcare leave has not even found its place in company regulations is evident when considering that 72.3 percent of the unions did not respond at al1.
Among the reasons cited for difficulty in using miscarriage leave were the fact that it has not yet been legalized (16.0 percent), the lack of precedent (11.7 percent), and that taking such leave increases the work load for co-workers 5 percent).
Reasons for the difficulty in using childcare leave included income-related reasons (l8.1 percent), the lack of precedent (12.8 percent), problems with personnel managers (7.4 percent), problems with childcare after returning to work (6.4 percent), and the fact that workers are not guaranteed the right to return to work (2.1 percent).
When asked for the main reason that maternity protection within the company were not implemented properly, the responses included the lack or company awareness (36.2 percent) and the company's financial burden for the cost of such provisions (14.9 percent).
These results indicate that placing the entire financial burden for maternity protection benefits on the company is becoming an obstacle in the fulfillment of these provisions. Other reasons included the lack of awareness among workers (23.4 percent) and the lack of union responses (64. responses).
When asked about the legal development of the current maternity protection system, 93. 6 percent responded that it was at an insufficient stage and must be expanded. Among those areas that respondents considered most important to develop first were maternity leave (42.6 percent), paid childcare leave (26.6 percent). 1egal guarantee of leaves for periodic medical examinations during pregnancy (18.1 percent), legal guarantee of leaves for miscarriages (7.4 percent). and maternity leaves for spouses (2.1 percent).
Responses regarding the best means of covering the costs of maternity protection included the collective responsibility of state and business (39.4 percent) and business responsibility with indirect government aid (35.1 percent).
As such results show, responses favoring either direct or indirect aid from the government total 74.5 percent. Regarding the division of financial responsibility when maternity leave is extended, 79.8 percent responded that the state and business should share the cost.
- Proposals for the expansion and stabilization of Korea's maternity protection
The Korean Women's Organizations United named 1990 the Maternity Protection Year' and 1991 the 'Year to Secure the Right Equal and Permanent Work.' It has focused its efforts on the health of women workers and the issue of childcare, both of which begin with the provision of maternity protection.
The various regional Women Workers Associations have responded by organizing conferences to present cases regarding job-related illnesses and maternity protection, expanding childcare facilites, pushing for greater government aid, and publishing guidebooks regarding the execution and stabilization of maternity protection provisions.
Last year, the WWAs cooperated with labor unions to publish a fact book called 'The Women's Labor Policy that Working Women Support.' It also pressured each political party to implement these policies.
We believe that the government must first and foremost view the mother's capacity for childbirth as a necessary social capacity for human reproduction. It must adopt the attitude that maternity protection constitutes a social right not merely a set of protective measures for physically weak women. In addition, 'women's protection' should be extended to male workers in the future and must match international standards.
In order to bring about these goals, we must adopt policies which stipulate that the financial burdens for maternity protection, which now lies only with business, be shared with the government.