“Decrease gender wage gaps to the OECD average level:" The gaps will be tackled when the government prepares for women workers' comprehensive policies

Around the presidential election in the end of last year, Kim Sungju, Saenuri Party's joint-chief campaigner made a comment about 'ginseng cookies,' which became a hot potato. Kim Sungju said "I don't know why the young take a passive stance like asking the government to create jobs for them, although I, even a small size company owner conquered 30 countries. If you write on the google, the statement like 'I made ginseng cookies in the kitchen while breastfeeding babies, I can get orders from the world. I don't know why the young are so passive, even though there is great virtual world available there."

We wonder what other comments he will make in the future. He often makes a lot of very strange and aggressive comments, but it is very difficult to imagine his future comments.

“After graduating from a high school, I have been working at this company for 16 years. The male colleagues who entered the company at the same time as me, got job promotions to a deputy section chief only after 4 years, but it took 13 years for me to become a deputy section chief. My company is negative in promoting women to deputy section chiefs. When women become deputy section chiefs, they are able to get another job promotion as department heads in the near future, so my company usually asks to resign their jobs. The company also planned to stop married and pregnant women workers from working. When women workers refused their resignations, the company made two suggestions: it would pay a kind of another 3~6month retirement grants, or it would install additional 5 typed-occupation targeting only women if they insist on continuing working (in this case, women are not eligible for job promotion, and their wages are reduced, and only low level job titles are allowed to them.)”(a counseling case of the Hotline for Equality belonging to the GWWA in 2012)  

I am in my late 30s and very young now, but many years ago, many TV soap operas and documentaries often dealt with similar cases to the above-mentioned one. Even at that time, I thought that wouldn't happen in the reality any more. Recently, similarly obvious discriminations aren't broadcast on mass media, but in 2013 these things still happen.

I wonder Kim Seongju thinks the above mentioned counselee should stop fruitless counseling and instead try to find a new way based on a creative thinking? Is that really all?

[38.9%, Korea's gender wage gap, OECD No. 1]

However, there are a lot of serious statistics around in our society, which encourages us to see women workers' issues not personal matters but social issues. The Korea's gender wage gap is 38.9%, which is top amongst OECD countries. Sometimes, Korea has the worst statistics amongst OECD countries. This makes me wonder if Korea joined the OECD to degrade all kinds of average statistics of OECD countries, from time to time.

The wage difference between males and female workers is almost 40% amongst the total number of wage earners. That is to say, if the average wage for male workers is 1 million Won, women workers receive around 600,000 Won on average. This is because the company pays men and women different wages including discrimination in relation to job promotion as shown in the above case, even though they enter at the same time.

Female workers often receive less wages than male workers just because we are women. Male cleaners receive more 100,000 Won even from the beginning, on the ground they may have opportunities to have tougher jobs, as shown in university cleaners' struggles. But, I think this obvious discrimination is better in some cases. That's because we can take action more easily to the discrimination.

A fundamental problem related to gender wage gaps is that most women workers are involved in low wage labor and work as irregular workers with employment insecurity. Women compose 61.5% out of all the wage workers who receive lower wages than legal minimum wages. Irregular workers account for 61.8% amongst women workers in total, which is 1.5 times higher compared to males.

After mass media broadcast that Korea has the worst gender wage gap amongst OECD countries, a netizen put a post on his twitter, saying "Korea made great fusses about it, as if the world ends because Korea has the worst gender wage gap.... Women work idly and receive less in many cases, which makes women receive less on average. These days, there are no wage differences because of gender. The problem is social environment not gender wage difference."  

I feel sorry for his narrow-mindedness, and I am worrying about his too much innocence that there is no gender wage difference. However, I am somewhat relieved about his conclusion that the problem is owing to 'social environment.'

 

[Childcare policies and irregular workers ' issues should be addressed comprehensively]

As shown in the above, most women are viewed in our society, as working idly and voluntarily stop working when they are pregnant and deliver babies because of their very motherhood. However, because most women workers are low-income earners, they have to judge between their wages and child-caring costs. Therefore, women workers' issues are closely related to childcare issues.

In this sense, women workers are excluded from the labor market in their 30s when they have to work most actively. After some years later, they return to the labor market as low wage and irregular workers. In the end, women's employment rates by life cycle are like M typed.

That's why we, women demands the government to 'decrease the gender wage differences to the OECD average level, 16%,' in celebration of the international women's day.

Gender wage differences cannot be addressed by simply several policies. The government should address women's career breaks to improve the quantity and quality of employment, and also change bad jobs with poor working conditions to decent jobs to upgrade the quality of employment. In addition, the government should take active action in many aspects: increase the minimum wage to 50% of average wage level of all workers; convert women irregular workers to regular workers in the public sector first; and create decent jobs for women through reforming and stipulating acts, regulations and policies including affirmative action. In order to tackle women's career breaks, the government should prepare for comprehensive policies in terms of childcare and balancing women's jobs and family lives. In particular, feasible and effective policies in the workplace is absolutely needed.

[“President Park Keun-hye, keep your women workers related promises”]

President Park Keun-hye promised to achieve 70% women's employment rate and cultivate 100,000 future women's talents. In her augural address, she declared to make Korea " a country of blessing to those who will deliver and rear babies."

However, the beginning of the first woman president's government was disappointing. President Park Keun-hye promised to make Korea a happy country in which women receive the same treatment and wages and to allocate 30% of public positions to women, but only 2 women are appointed in her cabinet, which is worse than the previous regime.

Besides, on February 27, the new government announced to decrease the working hours of the women workers who have to take care of children, as its first women's policy. It made us very worried. This policy didn't help women to balance their jobs and family lives at all, and instead, make women irregular part-timers. I am afraid what women workers' policies this government will produce in the future.

We celebrated the International Women's Day again. We demand President Park Keun-hye to keep her pledges regarding women workers, and further, we promise far stronger consolidation and action to make an equal society in which women workers are in peace and equality, evading from poverty and violence. 

On the International Women's Day, we really hope the Park Keun-hye government to produce great measures to settle women workers' issues, which can end the disappointment and worries at the beginning of her government.

 

 

Posted by KWWA
|