“Unstable Jobs” – Press Conference of the Win-Win Women’s Action in commemoration of the International Women’s Day 2010

-    How can the government urge women to have children in the unstable job situation?

- It is very hard to request maternity leave in the unstable job situation.

- Jobs are unstable, but the government policy is more unstable.

 

The press conference was held by “the Win-Win Women’s Action to save the people’s livelihood and jobs” in front of the National Assembly at Yeouido at 11:00 on March 3 in commemoration of the International Women’s Day. It urged the job security of women with the topic of “unstable jobs”.

 

Recently the South Korean government brought forward various measures to encourage childbirth such as a so-called ‘purple job’ (a part-time job) aimed at enabling women workers to achieve a balance between work and family. (Note: The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family explains the color purple combines red, a feminine color, and blue, a masculine color, and thus symbolizes gender equality and harmony between work and family.) The government does not pay attention to the reality that a large number of women have fallen into unemployment and poverty, but considers the low birthrate problem as the most serious matter and approaches employment policy geared to promoting childbirth. About 70% of women workers are irregular worker and most of them work for a minimum wage. Maternity leave and childcare leave for them is all just pie in the sky. Therefore it is doubtful they can live on the purple job.  

 

On the occasion of the International Women’s Day 2010 and with the same spirit of women who marched down the street and demanded women’s voting rights about 100 years ago, we gathered to put forward the women’s requests of the change of the government policy on the job security for the society where women have children and raise them well.

 

The press conference was begun with a main statement by Jeong Moonja, Chairperson of the Korean Women Workers Association (KWWA). Ms. Jeong said that it was prepared to disclose the illusion of the government policy with the promotion of childbirth toward unstable jobs and threat to the women workers’ right to live, and announce measures really needed for women workers to secure the right to work. Emphasizing job security rather than labor flexibility, she also said that the so-called ‘purple job’ (a part-time job) would not enable women workers to achieve a balance between work and family, and demanded 500,000 new jobs for women. 

 

Is an administrative intern at the public institution an expert in shredding documents?

As a person directly concerned, a woman nicknamed ‘Poker Face’ looking for a job, made a comment following the statement by the KWWA chairperson. She is 27 years old and became a debtor who had to begin the payment on the student loan after the graduation. She could not prepare for the job market properly due to part-time jobs for making the payment on the loan. Then she worked as an intern for 6 months under ‘the administrative internship at the public institution’ which the government publicized like a measure to tackle the problem of unemployment among young people. When she and other youths joined the administrative internship at the public institutions, they all expected to build their careers for the 6 month contract period. However, they spent 6 months mostly for simply clerical assistance such as copying and shredding documents.

 

After that, she took several part-time jobs such as an afterschool instructor, but she could not get any stable job. Employers prefer students to graduates for part-time jobs. Therefore employment opportunities for the 27 year old woman are getting scarcer and scarcer. She concluded her comment by saying that it would be good if South Korea became a country providing stable jobs not only to young people but also to women.

 

Ms. Kim Sujin whose career was interrupted by childbirth, made a comment. Her words touched our heart with such intensity. She has a two year old child. She quitted the teaching job at a private education institute where she had worked for 6 years because she had no one to take care of her child, and became a homemaker. She thought that she would be back to work if the conditions were right for leaving her child in the childcare center, but the reality was tough. With her career in teaching, she tried to get a teaching job, but it was hard to get the job in private education institutes because the teaching job in institutes is a popular job for university students. She wants a job not only because of her desire to work but also because of a need to cover a fair bit of money for childcare. She lowered her job expectations and tried to get a part-time job, but it was also hard. She is upset because people around her ask why she does not have a second child without knowing how hard she is. She studied hard at university and spent a lot of money to graduate, but failed to get a job in her major of study and in the field of her career. The path of the re-entry to the labor market is long and winding. Recently she is keeping an eye on mart cashiers which she looked casually. She is afraid of a new job that she has ever done before, but now wishes any job available.

 

The press conference asking the government to provide effective measures in dealing with jobs for women, was concluded by our action to shout loudly the following demands below toward the National Assembly.

▲ The government and the company should eradicate unfair dismissal for pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare, and ensure jobs for women.

▲ Ensure maternity leave and childcare leave for women without distinction between regular and irregular works. <!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--> <!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->

▲ The government should enforce a policy enabling both female and male workers to take childcare leave.

▲ The company should improve organizational culture such as the long working hours and the excessive get-together culture, hindering workers to achieve a balance between work and family.

▲ The man is also a main agent of childcare. Be a father who work and raise children together for a balance between work and family.

▲ We are uneasy in the unstable job situation. The government should enforce a policy for job security not for job flexibility.