Women workers and the labor movement in South Korea

Kim, Seung-kyung

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.

Abstract
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.

Labor supply and employment

Labor relations

Labor organization

Collective bargaining

HRAF PubDate

1998

Region

Asia