[vol.3] [Feature] The Women's Labor Policies that Working Women Support
WORKING WOMAN 2008. 1. 30. 15:59
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Problems with the Basic Welfare Plan for Working Women
- Clause 5 of the Equal Employment Law makes it obligatory for the government to formulate a basic plan regarding the social we1fare of working women. Yet it was only in December 1993, six years after the enactment of the Law, that the Ministry of Labor presented its draft of the 'Basic Welfare Plan for Working Women.'
On one hand, this proposa1 -- which was drafted with the objective of guaranteeing equal opportunity and treatment for men and women, securing maternity benefits for women, and contributing to the elevation of women's social status and welfare by developing better employment skills -- reflects the success of the women's and labor union struggles of the past.
Yet, when considering the contents of the Basic Plan. it remains questionable whether the government truly intended to implement a proper women's labor policy. The proposal, for example, claims to promote women's employment by expanding temporary work opportunities without any regard to the problem of employment instability that will undoubtedly arise. Regarding maternity benefits, the proposa1, rather than presenting any measures for improving harsh working conditions, only includes plans to reduce benefits instead.
More specifically, the problems of the proposed women's welfare plan can be summarized as follows:
- The Basic Plan states that the government's welfare policy for working women has passed through three periods: the stage of 'special protection' (1953~80), the stage of welfare benefits (1981~86) and the period of groundwork construction for the realization of gender equality (1987~92).
The current proposal is purported to reflect the next policy stage, in which the creation and execution of more concrete policies to effect gender equality are in demand.
Despite such assertions, it is clear that this plan represents only an incipient stage in preparing the most basic foundations for gender equality. This is evident from the fact that the Basic Plan was first proposed six years after the execution of the Equal Employment Law, that the female bank employee system (a system by which male and female bank employees were categorized separately for purposes of discriminatory job advancement) was not abolished until 1993, and that the government has deemed audits lasting unti1 1997 necessary to oversee the adequate execution of the Equa1 Employment Law in companies with over 10O employees.
It is also clear, when considering gender discrimination in wages, job post distribution, advancement, recruitment, and hiring that even the most basic foundation for equa1ity has yet to be formed.
- The fact that 48.6 percent (1993 statistics) of the economically active female population is employed shows that women comprise a substantial portion of the social labor force. Yet, women's wages only equal 55.7 percent of men's wages, a figure that is lower than that for other countries at a similar stage of economic development; the corresponding percentages for the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia are 80, 74, and 76 percent respectively.
Such a low wage reflects the extent to which women's labor has been devalued as a result of deep-rooted gender discrimination within the social structure
Despite such conditions, the government continues to assume only a lukewarm attitude towards the implementation of the equa1-pay for equa1_work system, proposing only to develop an academic model to compare the relative values or different jobs.
Both government and business must now realize that the logic of low-wage labor as a means of fostering economic competitiveness is 1osing its persuasiveness domestically and internationally. They must also acknowledge that the equal pay for equal-work system will make it easier to foster better purchasing power, technological advancement, and higher productivity.
Consequently, in order to overcome indiscriminate wage discrimination on the basis of gender, job type, education level, and region, the government must introduce more rational systems like work value comparisons, institute reforms of the income and employment structures, and eliminate the gender-differentiated system of job advancement.
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The Ministry's welfare plan does not include policies regarding employment instability, the most central area of concern for women's and labor organizations, and instead only proposes ways of worsening job instability by expanding part-time and dispatch labor. Proposals for promoting women's employment are also greatly lacking when compared to plans for senior citizens and the disabled; these plans only mention part-time work as a means of increasing job opportunities.
The Ministry of Labor has already reported the ratio of part-time workers in the manufacturing sector as totaling only two percent. In a situation in which most part-time workers are so-called 'nomina1' part-timers (labeled part-time, but working the same number of hours as full-timers), the government's plans regarding part-time workers who actually work shorter hours will be ineffective at best.
This system is also sure to worsen employment instability for women workers.
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It is a positive development that the proposal reflects certain issues that women's labor groups have consistently demanded in the past, issues including a 90-day maternity leave, paid abortion leave. leaves for periodic examinations during pregnancy. paid childcare leave, and maternity leaves for spouses.
However, the Basic Plan only mentions its intent to expand maternity benefits in exchange for reducing 'special protection' for women (menstruation 1eave and limits on women's employment, extended labor, and night-time work), but does not enumerate any concrete measures for realizing these goals.
First, we believe it to be contradictory that the Ministry, while purporting to expand maternity protection. at the same time proposes to eliminate menstruation leave, which represents a social protection of an important biological function needed for reproduction. We cannot accept an elimination of menstruation leave that gives no consideration to the harsh working conditions of women workers.
This hasty elimination of menstruation leave goes against international trends towards the expansion of maternity benefits and threatens to further destabilize labor-management relations
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The Basic Plan states that as the provision of equal employment opportunities is inadequate in bringing about full gender equality, a temporary system of preferential treatment in hiring is needed. But again, more concrete plans or methods for execution of this idea are not proposed.
Our immediate demands for revising the Basic Welfare Plan.
After numerous discussions regarding the Basic Welfare Plan, women's labor organizations after consulting the opinions of specialists, organized the following demands for a revised women's labor policy:
- Policy proposal for the elimination of employment instability and the promotion of job opportunities for women
- We oppose the enactment of the 'Law Regarding the Proper Management of Worker Dispatch Agencies and the Protection of Dispatch Workers,' for this law is intended to legalize the currently illegal worker dispatch system.
The best means of protecting dispatch workers is to entirely prohibit the dispatch system and to shift these workers into full-time work. Instead of legalizing this system, the government must strengthen public job security measures.
- Policies to regulate temporary employment (such as part-time, dispatch, and contract-based employment) must be created. A second item must be added to Clause 29 of the Basic Labor Standards Act to ensure that contracts for full-time work are concluded for workers employed for over three months.
- Policies to promote women's employment opportunities must focus on the expansion of regular, permanent employment. In addition as workers currently hired as part-timers can be 1abeled 'employees,' as defined in Clause I4 of the Basic Labor Standards Act (defined only on the basis of wage or salary, without regard to type of job, as a person who earns his/her livelihood based on such income), the Basic Labor Standards Act must be applied in full to these workers. Under the principles of equality and nondiscrimination, temporary workers must be ensured the same rights as permanent workers.
- The Employment insurance Executive Order must be applied to those companies with over five employees. the standard set in the Basic Labor Standards Act.
- To promote employment opportunities for women, government and public offices must carry out a 20 percent employment quota for women.
- Job training facilities for women must be expanded and equal training carried out for men and women. A quota system must also be adopted when recruiting students for job training programs.
- Policy proposals for the expansion of maternity benefits
- We absolutely oppose the proposed change menstruation leave from paid to unpaid status.
- Special protective provisions for women, including prohibitions of nighttime and overtime work, as well as work during holidays must be expanded in accordance with international trends. Such provisions as free medica1 examinations, emergency facilities, and provision of social services must be changed into an equality measure applicable to both men and women.
- Extension of maternity leave to over 9O days, provision of medical examination leave during pregnancy, and a paid abortion leave must be newly established.
- Policy proposals for the realization of gender equality
- To bring about a gender-equal education, The Equal Employment Law must be revised to make the definition of sexual discrimination more concrete. to prepare temporary measures for the preferential treatment of women, and to include such measures as guaranteed paid childcare leave of one year.
- Supervision of women's labor rights needs to be strengthened and the corresponding government departments expanded.
- Policy proposals for the social welfare of working women
- Regional facilities to promote women's employment need to be expanded and government funding for these activities increased.
- Dining services need to be begun in the schools. The government must also take primary responsibility for management funds.
- Policy proposals for the reform and internationalization of labor-management relations
- The Labor Union Law and the Regulatory Law on Labor Disputes must be revised
- We oppose all modifications to the Basic Labor Standards Law, including the institutionalization of variable labor hours and the elimination of the monthly leave.
- All imprisoned workers must be released with their charges pardoned. and returned to their original jobs. All searches for politically sought workers must also be abandoned, and all laid-off workers reinstated to their origina1 jobs.
- In this era of internationalization, ILO labor provisions must be ratified immediately.