book chapter
Women workers and the labor movement in South Korea
Anthropology and the global factory • New York • Published In 1992 • Pages: 220-237
By: Kim, Seung-kyung.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
In this article, Kim examines the role of women in the labor movement in the Masan Free Export Zone (MAFEZ) in South Korea. Kim attributes South Korea's spectacular economic growth in the postwar period to 'workers' high level of productivity and their acceptance of low wages and long working hours (220).' Nearly half (46.1% in 1978) of South Korea's manufacturing labor force was comprised of women. At first women tolerated low wages and poor working conditions because they expected to work only until they got married when they would leave the factory to raise a family. However the generally poor wages for both men and women in manufacturing forced women to continue working after marriage. The result was the organizaiton of the women's labor movement to address 'poverty and inhumane working conditions.' A labor uprising in 1987 affected half the companies in the MAFEZ, and in 1988 the unions won higher wages (US$4 to US$7 per day). Women's courageous participation in South Korea's labor struggles should dispel the stereotype of Korean women as being docile and subservient.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Labor supply and employment
- Labor relations
- Labor organization
- Collective bargaining
- Gender status
- External relations
- Political movements
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Korea
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 1998
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Asia
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- East Asia
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- book chapter
- Evaluation
- Creator TypesThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- Indigenous Person
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Ian Skoggard ; 1997
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1986-1988
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1962-1987
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Korea
- NotesAdditional notes
- Seung-kyung Kim
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 236-237)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 91018922
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Koreans