'Alpha Girls' Cannot Grow to Be 'Alpha Women' in Korea.

Korean Women Workers Association (KWWA) and Korean Women’s Trade Union (KWTU) jointly held a forum (on suggestions to presidential candidates made by 4 female labor specialists--realities and solution of women workers) to produce practical and effective policies for women workers prior to the presidential election. On December 16, the 4 specialists (Chang Jiyeon, Eun Soomi, Kwon Hyeja, and Seok Jae-eun) discussed changes in a labor paradigm, female labor without experiencing any discrimination, job creation for women workers, and rights to social security and public spirited care service.

 

Needed is a notion that all women are workers

 

Researcher Chang Jiyeon claimed that the minimum wage is usually set in accordance with people’s earnings and job performances in societies like Korea where social welfare systems are largely poor, and that many poor people cannot evade from poverty although they work hard since their quality of job is too low. Women are one of the most marginalized groups who cannot find proper and secure jobs in the labor market and are alienated and isolated from national welfare systems. Low income-earners out of the whole women workers accounted for 41.9% (who earned less than 4,712 won an hour as of 2006). 66.6% irregular women workers working at the establishments hiring less than 5 persons were found to be low-income earners. This shows there is a higher rate of women workers earning low incomes, compared with male workers, in terms of establishment and pattern of employment. In addition, only 16% women have social insurances through their jobs, while 32.5% men have. Only those who make a contribution to social insurances can be beneficiary of the welfare system in Korea, since the Korean welfare system is based on social insurances. Employees working in very small establishments and irregular workers are largely excluded from the welfare system, and most of them are women. Why women are in a very vulnerable position in the labor market is that male workers not needing to support families are standardized. Researcher Chang Jiyeon suggested that labor paradigms should be changed to solve the poverty and exclusion of women in terms of social welfare. Firstly, she suggested tthe expansion of the scope of social insurances tthe expansion of the scope of the labor standard act and the reinforcement of its management and tthe reinforcement of the management of a proper application of the minimum wage in order that social welfare can cover all women workers practically. Secondly, she also recommended that all labor and social security policies should be developed under the main definition that all women are basically workers. For this, she claimed that tthe policies should be targeted individually and tcare work should be socialized.

 

Alpha girls cannot grow to be alpha women in Korea

 

Researcher Eun Soomi indicated that women experience double discrimination in relation to disadvantages of job opportunities and patterns of employment, under her topic of “three tasks for guaranteeing female labor equally.” The steady growth of female economic activities has confirmed the improvement of direct discrimination. In particular, in the case of women at age of less than 29, their employment rate in the labor market has been improved, although the number is not high enough. In addition, the wage gap between genders has been narrowed steadily and wage differences between genders in the workplace have been enhanced. However, women workers have still suffered from indirect discrimination in the forms of work career disruption, changes in employment patterns before and after the period of career disruption, and wage differences due to the segregation by occupation between genders. The traditional M curve is still drawn in Korea. What is worse is that women’s employment patterns are usually changed from regular workers to irregular workers. The majority of aged women work as temporary and day workers or being self-employed. In conclusion, she mentioned there are alpha girls but no alpha women in the Korean society. Since direct discrimination has been improved, young women can find jobs more easily, but their jobs cannot be guaranteed 10 or 20 years after. Researcher Eun Soomi  suggested that taffirmative countermeasures for improving employment should be consolidated tequal work value equal wage should be effectively provided t countermeasures for irregular workers should be given, so as to find a way out of this situation.

 

Important are job creation and job continuity for women

 

Researcher Kwon Hyeja claimed the government should consider not only the creation of women’s jobs but also the continuity of their jobs. We are living in the Korean society where more than 10,000,000 women are employed. The government has focused on job creation for the not-economically active population, trying to induce women, not-economically active population, to participate in the labor market as economically active population. However, the researcher insisted problems in the female labor market should be solved in advance. While there has been a steady increase in the number of high quality of jobs (such as professional and high-ranking positions) for women, it is characteristic that the employment in the formal sector (where highly salaried workers work in large-size companies) is segregated from that in the informal sector and in very small-size companies (where jobs are very poorly paying) and their job entrances are separated. There are also large wage gaps and job shifts between the two sectors are not allowed. Additionally, it is more effective to provide policies preventing women from losing or leaving their jobs rather than supporting women workers who already experience job disruption. Overall, it is needed to create women’s jobs although they are high quality of jobs or not, but the creation of poor quality of jobs should be stopped. Recently, women’s jobs in the social services including teachers in childcare centers, nurses, house caretakers are involved in looking after patients, kids, and disabled people, where women are largely segregated and jobs offer poor payment. In this respect, she insisted it is necessary to expand but jobs for women in the non-traditional areas including IT where women do not largely work. In short, implied is the importance of tthe improvement of female participation rates in economic activities and the provision of countermeasures of preventing women from losing and leaving their jobs tthe improvement of job segregation by gender and the improvement of treating irregular women workers and tbuilding up systematic and effective employment infrastructures, in order to enhance the creation of high quality of jobs for women.

 

Rights to pensions for individual women should be guaranteed

 

Professor Seok Jae-eun made suggestions in regard of basic rights related to social security policies. Presently, Korean social security policies are based on social insurance and people have the rights to social security only through chipping in money in this situation. As of 2005, while 34.4% men did not receive pension, 65.6% women suffer from no pension. Amongst the population at the age of 20-59, while 40.7% men did not receive public pension, 73.5% women did not receive any. This is attributed to the structural exclusion of women, caused by higher rate of not-economically active female population, underemployment, unpaid family work, and non-householders. There are limitations of the current social security operated under the male breadwinner model and pension centered by household unit. Should be established a structure in which pension by individual unit should be guaranteed, individual women should have independent rights, and the right to pension should not be connected to pensioners’ performances and earnings. The professor highlighted t individual women can have the right to pension, t the right to social security should be provided immediately without excluding any through formulating a development plan of basic old-age pension.

 

In addition, professor Seok Jae-eun mentioned 80% of women are involved in care jobs in which there have been social demands for the expansion of care services, and accordingly care services have been expanded. Currently, long term care insurance system for the aged has been established and a variety of service vouchers have been issued. However, she indicated how to gain public spirit should be considered at the same time, although there are some advantages of possible privatization of these services because the quality of services might be upgraded. She also raised an issue that care services should be more public spirited for the side of care receivers and that ways in which care jobs can be developed into good professions should be founded out for the side of care providers.

 

A national assembly member Il-do Bae from the Grand National Party, a debater of the forum insisted that severe controls and restrictions on corporate activities should be removed, clarifying Grand National Party’s basic policy is based on economic growth. Meanwhile, Choonsaeng Yeoh, a female policy expert advisor from the United New Democratic Party promised the socialization of maternity protection and the expansion of affirmative employment improvement measures, saying “I am here to find logical ground for making policies. I am surprised at the high number of women who do not receive any employment insurance.”

 

Park Insook from the Labor Party said “your suggestions are already reflected on most of Labor Party’s policies. We have been concerned for re-organizing for women, male-centered policies related to employment, earning income, and social welfare, which is different from other political parties.” She also clarified “we believe qualitative accesses to jobs for women are needed rather than quantitative accesses. We have prepared for an activation project for women and a care sharing project.” Myung Jinsook, a special advisor from the Creative Korea Party mentioned “we should ask for whom growth is and for whom development is,” highlighting “it is needed to develop growth-and-welfare-based policies spontaneously.” She also insisted that social compromise should be ahead, because it is impossible to overcome wage gapes between the rich and the poor through any restructuring, saying “it is necessary to establish the perspective of equality and the politics of difference in which all social components can be treated equally.”