The Present Condition and Assignments of Women Migrant Workers in Korea

The number of foreign migrant women dwelling in Korea, a country which is already a leading importer of migrant labor power, is gradually increasing. The rate of women who are migrant workers remains around 37%, but based on recent migration trends it is estimated that Korea will soon be faced with 'the feminization of migrant workers'.  Migrant women who come to Korea are living in this country with threefold discrimination in their workplaces, even places dealing in sex trafficking or international marriages, because of their nationality, different skin color and the fact that they are woman.

Women migrant workers who stay in Korea work in three categories of work:

1) Women migrant workers engaged in regular occupations or part-time jobs through personal planning or as trainees.

2) Women migrant workers who have come as brides in international marriages, through marriage agents, local organizations or civic organizations.

3) Women migrant workers who have been forced to work in the sex industry after being hired with an entertainment visa (E-6).

Ⅰ. Women Labor Migrant Workers

1. A Case Study to Review the Present Situation of Women Migrant Workers Working in the Manufacturing Industry

Gunchon, a Nepalese woman who is the eldest sibling in her family, has spent six years in Korea. Her father was injured on a construction site and is now physically unable to work, so her mother has maintained her family by operating a small store in a market.  Gunchon had been weaving carpets since she was a child in order to supplement her family's income, and she continued in this occupation after marriage.  It was intended that her husband would come to Korea to work and he arrived in 1996 as a participant in the trainee system with a D3 visa after first being paid six million won.  However, he returned home within a month due to bad health. The agent demanded that someone replace him since the expense for training had already been paid.  Also, somebody had to earn money for the family because Gunchon's husband could not work.  As a result, Gunchon came to Korea on December 15, 1997 as a trainee, to make money instead of her husband.  She was forced to leave her seven-year old son in her homeland and she works here alone in order to support her family and her natal family as well.

Gunchon came to Korea and trained in a company for the first 9 months. She was paid approximately 500,000 won but she took home only 300,000 won after paying a 'reserve fund' (150,000 won) to her company, medical insurance (6,000 won) and a commission fee for trainee management (24,000 won). Although she sent all her remaining money home it was impossible to pay back the money she borrowed to come to Korea. To make matters worse, the company where she was employed was poorly managed so she did not receive her monthly pay on time. For these reasons, she secretly left the company and arrived in Seoul which made her an illegal resident. She started to work in a sewing factory as an apprentice and the initial money she made there was more than twice what she had been paid as a trainee. She now makes approximately one million won a month because of her experience. She lives with her friend and pays approximately 200,000won a month rent, including electricity and water. She usually spends 30,000-40,000 won on telephone cards, 70,000 won on food and keeps 100,000 won pocket money.  All remaining money is sent to her family and to repay the money she had borrowed for training.

Now Gunchon's conditions in Korea are too hard to bear, because the Korean government sends people who have stayed over 4 years in Korea back to their countries by force under the 'Employment Permission System: EPS'. As an illegal resident that has not acquired an E-9 (work) visa, Gunchon makes a bare living doing various part-time jobs, as she cannot legally obtain occupational employment. Her employer also wants to hire Gunchon because she can speak Korean well and is skilled in her job, however, she can not offer legal employment because of the government policy that punishes employers if they hire illegal residents.

Gunchon wants to go back to home to be reunited with her child. It is not a simple problem, however. Her family and her husband's family have spent all of the money she has sent so she can not find a way to maintain her life even if returns to her homeland. Her sick husband told her impudently that it was up to her when she asked him whether or not she should return. To add to her stress she has recently received the news that her son is sick so her mind is constantly at home with her family . She hopes to make even a small amount of money over the next month or two but until now it has been hard to find a proper job. To Gunchon, these days are more painful because of this situation at home.  It is even more difficult than some difficulties she has experienced in Korea caused by language problems and racism.

The features of the lives of women migrant workers in Korea are  vividly shown in Gunchon's case. There is a process that they all go through, where they have to be responsible for their family's livelihood and they go to another country to make money due to the feminization of poverty. Other problems concerning human rights also involve living with a low-income,  overtime work, bad living conditions and especially the difficulties caused by the limitations of illegal residency. Finally, the problem of not being able to choose whether or not to return home is a final violation of their rights to freedom.

2. The Present Position and Problem of Women Migrant Workers

1) In statistics

According to statistics available at the Immigration Bureau in the Ministry of Justice, there are 87, 684 'legally residing women workers', which includes industrial trainees (D-3 visa), 22, 518 of 95,673, have industrial trainee employment (E-8 visa), 5,088 of 23,673, have non-expert employment (E-9 visa).  In total 60,078 of 159,755 or 31.4% of all migrant workers are women.. Including 55,567 illegal residents, there are about 140-150,000 women migrant workers in Korea. Korean-Chinese make-up about 45%, Chinese  23%  and women from the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Nepal, Kazakhstan and similar places make up about 32%. Those women migrant workers are largely classified as workers who work in a factory and women engaged in the hospitality industry such as in coffee shops or restaurants. Some people suggest that women working in the sex industry should be considered migrant workers, however, they are not included in these statistics. It is potentially controversial to consider them workers because the Korean government does not legally allow sexual trafficking and a law prohibiting sexual trafficking has recently come into effect because of it.

2) Problems in Human Rights and Labor

The problems concerning the human rights of migrant workers are commonly divided into several categories like infringements upon the right to labor or other fundamental rights. Specifically, they can be summarized as the vulnerability of legal status,  inferior labor conditions (like forced overtime work), low income, delayed payment, industrial disasters, abusive language, violence, abasement and the difficulty of adjustment owing Korea's exclusive culture, the lack of social welfare services and inhumane forced expulsion.

Women migrant workers experience multiple forms of discrimination. They not only face wage discrimination compared to male workers but also are victims of crimes such as sexual harassment and rape.  These facts are becoming serious social problems. In these cases no methods of birth control are used and they are often forced to work outrageous amounts of overtime by their employer even after resulting pregnancy or abortion.

⑴ Poverty and Economic problems

According to the report published in 2002 on the current status of women migrant workers in Korea by the Joint Committee for Migrants Workers in Korea (JCMK), 53.4% of those surveyed lived in rental accommodations and around 50% of them lived in small places of 2 meters by 3 meters. 74% of the surveyed said that they are illegal immigrants, 54.5% of them worked in Seoul, 54.3% in factories, and 33.0% in the fabric industries.

38.2% of the surveyed said that their weekly work hours are between 67-88 hours and 49.2% of them said that they have 4 days off a week. 70.7% of them said their monthly payments are between 530,000-1,000,000 Won, two third of those for male migrant workers.

30.2% said that they work many hours while 27.4% said that they work in poor working environments, 19.1% experience vocational disease, 9.2% industrial disease, 21.5% delayed payments, 29.9% said low payments are problems concerning their work conditions. 15.1% said their relations with Korean workers cause problems while 22.2% said that their conflicts with their supervisors cause problems. 39.5% said that passports/visas are problematic, 9.7% have problems with their broker's fee's, and 38.3% report threats on their illegal residence.

Employment condition of women migrant workers

(Grid 1) wage and working hours of foreign workers by type of employment

		Wage (1,000 won)	Average working hours in a month (hour)	Wage per hour (1,000 won)
Trainee	Male	824.57	272	3.03
	Female	817.10	292	2.81
	Total	822.93	276	2.98
Trainee employment	Male	944.00	290	3.26
	Female	842.95	310	2.73
	Total	929.19	294	3.14
Foreign industrial trainee employed by the enterprise that invited them to the foreign country	Male	727.76	228	3.19
	Female	556.66	245	2.27
	Total	679.34	233	2.92
Illegal Employee	Male	873.91	240	3.64
	Female	778.70	243	3.21
	Total	858.26	240	3.58

Unit = 1,000 won/hour

Research on the employment conditions of foreign workers, 2002, Korea Labor Institute

⑵ Educational Training Problems

Communication problems have proved to be one of the major problems experienced by women migrant workers. 31.9% said that their daily communications are problems while 23.9% said that cultural conflicts are. They also said that they have never heard of motherhood protection policies, labor laws, laws for sexual violence or compulsory monthly leave policies.

⑶ Violence Problems

According to reported statistics by women's organizations and women migrant's organizations last year, 42% of migrant women are annoyed by sexual harassment and domestic violence. The numbers concerning sexual harassment are also higher in other statistics surveyed by the Joint Committee for Migrants Workers in Korea (JCMK) in 2002. 12.1% of those surveyed said that they have experienced sexual violence, and 30.4% of them said that they have experienced it through physical contact, while 55.6% of them said that they have experienced sexual violence by their Korean supervisors. Of the sexual violence cases, 55% of them took place after work hours and 56.3% in their work places. However, 38.9% of them said that they did not do anything after the violence while 28.6% said that they had been fired after reporting the violence. 52.6% of those who experienced sexual violence said that they had experienced indignity and shame.

66.7% of those who experienced sexual violence said that they did not get any indemnity, even though 70.6% of them knew that the sexual aggressors were subject to legal punishments. 72.2% of them said that they need places to obtain counseling and shelters while 33.3% said that they wanted to get help through preparatory education against sexual violence.

Concerning the forms of violence, 15.2% of those surveyed had experienced verbal abuse, 9.4% sexual harassment, 8.2% physical violence and 4.4% sexual violence. Also of the violent aggressors, 30.7% were company owners, 19.3% supervisors, 16.2% Korean colleagues and 8.9% were market owners.

⑷ Human Rights

Several reports on women migrant workers showed that their human rights have been violated, especially with the examples of low payments, poor working environments, unprotected motherhood, sexual violence, and sexual harassment. 41.0% of those surveyed said that their human rights have been violated and 12.3% of them said that their human rights have been violated frequently. 44.4% of them said that they had received counseling from others and 29.5% of them had received it at foreign labor centers. 82.3% reported that the help was useful. and 39.8% of them said that their attitude towards Korea has subsequently become negative.

- The absence of measures to counter medical problems and ensure maternity protection

It is difficult for Migrant women to take care of their health even when they are sick or pregnant. According to a survey conducted by the Joint Committee for Migrant Workers in Korea (JCMK), 29.1% of migrant women do not have access to  periodic medical checkups, 57.7% of them could not request a more suitable task at their jobs after pregnancy and 67.7% of them had to hide the fact that they had given birth. 56.3% of women migrant workers had experienced an abortion in Korea, 40.0% of them had merely taken a week long vacation to recover, and 61.6% of them answered that they had experienced difficulty when they returned to work. Even after having an abortion, 57.1% of them did not request a change of task at work. 29.1% of them were avoiding pregnancy because they were afraid of being punished for it in some way such as being forcefully returned to their native country. It is unfortunate that woman migrant workers face such situations where they are denied their natural rights to be mothers because they are forced to concentrate on their financial livelihood.	Earlier this year a story was reported of several Thai women who suffer from paralysis of the lower half of their bodies because of the inhalation of normal hexane in the work place.  This is another example of migrant women who cannot receive proper medical care. Migrant workers generally do not have the opportunity to  obtain good quality health care. Although medical insurance is provided for industrial trainees, under the employment permission system, those holding an E-9 visa do not have the benefit of medical insurance.  This is because it is the responsibility of the employer to arrange for medical insurance but most employers avoid doing so because joining a medical insurance plan is not compulsory. In the case of non-registered workers, they have no way to be protected at the government level. Despite the fact that civil organizations operate a free medical clinic for migrant workers and the JCMK supports medical services by offering medical services at reduced prices, it is difficult for migrant workers to find help in an emergency.  Migrant workers also find it extremely difficult to pay even the reduced costs of medical care due to the fact that they have little cash on hand.  Because they send the majority of their money to support their families at home they do not have the money available for medical care and this, in turn, makes the continuing operation of the program difficult.

- Children's Human Rights Issues for Migrant Workers:

The fundamental needs and the development of children should be considered and they have a right to special protection, therefore children's interests should be secured at any cost. However, children of migrant workers in Korea are not properly protected: policies for children's rights to health, welfare, education, leisure and cultural activities are not fully prepared. Furthermore, children of illegal migrant workers have restricted rights to health and education.  Because of their lack of access to the Korean health care system children cannot visit hospitals, and even though they are legally permitted entrance into elementary schools, such cases are rare. This is because of a lack of attention and understanding in the classroom, and the prejudice of Korean parents. Entrance into middle schools is more difficult because the principals exclusively decide on who may enter their school. Daughters of migrant women are also often subjected to the dangers of sexual violence and there is currently no system in place to protect them.

According to `The Study of Human Rights Issues for Women Migrant Workers' by the Korean Women's Development Institute and `The report on the actual situation of foreign women migrant workers' by the Joint Committee for Migrants Workers in Korea (JCMK), foreign migrant women workers are exposed to serious problems such as gender-distribution in wages and treatment at work, the nonexistence of maternity and child care support, sexual harassment and domestic violence, being forced to work in the sex industry and poor living conditions. What may be the most serious problem is the language barrier migrant woman face, and the social limitations they face due to their illegal residency.

The Korean government enacted a system titled the "employment permission system" in 2003. This system has the potential to violate human rights  because it restricts migrant workers from moving from one work place to another.  It also gives unlimited power and authority to employers. Theoretically, migrant workers are able to change their place of employment a maximum of five times if their company is held accountable for delayed payments, violence or other illegal actions of the company or if the business closes due to financial difficulties. However, in practice this rarely happens and employers have the right to deny the movement of their migrant employers and the acquisition of work/training visas.

3. Guaranteeing the human rights of migrant women

1) Government

⑴ The government should sign the International Convention on Migrant Workers and Their Families, the World Convention on the Resolution of Racial Discrimination, and the 4 unsigned articles of the International Labor Organization. Furthermore, it should amend the employment permission system in accordance with these conventions and abolish the industrial trainee system.

⑵ Women migrant workers should also be protected according to the laws of motherhood, laws for the protection of infants, equal employment regulations, laws against sexual harassment and laws against sexual and domestic violence.

⑶ Various ministries of government, including the  ministry of Gender Equality, should include policies assuring the human rights of women migrant workers.

⑷ Central and local governments should work together to reinforce systems  protecting the human rights of women migrant workers such as counseling, motherhood protection centers, employment information centers, and educational programs teaching Korean language and culture. Governments should also provide services of public administration. Moreover, they should make an effort to support surveys concerning the conditions of human rights and the development of education programs protecting the rights of women migrant workers in cooperation with civic groups.

⑸ The government should establish and enforce protection policies for children of migrant workers according to the International Convention on Children's Rights.

2) Civic Groups

⑴ Civic groups working for the improved rights of migrant workers should demand that the government sign the international laws on these issues and amend the Employment Permit System from the perspective of women migrant workers.

⑵ The groups should also adopt laws on women's rights including laws of motherhood, equal employment regulations, laws against sexual harassment and laws against sexual and domestic violence.

⑶ Civic groups should also promote and ensure the activities of central and local governments assuring the human rights of migrant workers. Furthermore, they should encourage the activities of each organization concerned with migrant women and promote their solidarity.

⑷ Civic groups should not only educate staff and volunteers to promote an awareness of gender equality, but also prepare activities to prevent violence against women migrant workers and to assure their human rights.

⑸ For the assurance of the human rights of the children of migrant workers, the group should also lobby the government to prepare policies and create a social atmosphere supportive of upholding these human rights.