High sexual harassment rates for female irregular workers

[한겨레] Female irregular workers reportedly face difficulties in reporting harassment due to the threat of being fired

By Lee You-jin　

The results of a survey of 1,652 female members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), commissioned by the KCTU's Women's Committee and conducted by the Korean public interest lawyers' group Gonggam between February and August this year, show that 39.4 percent of respondents claim to have been victims of sexual harassment during the past two years.

A report published by the two groups on Aug. 29 indicates that irregularly employed workers were exposed to more direct sexual harassment than their regularly employed counterparts. Regular workers experienced an average of 3.11 types of sexual harassment over the two-year period, while the figure for irregular workers was 3.76. Directly employed female workers experienced an average of 3.13 acts of sexual harassment, while indirectly female employed workers experienced an average of 4.02.

Sexual harassment in the form of explicit "allurement to a secret place" happened to only 0.6 percent of regular workers, but rose to 3.4 percent among irregular employees. The corresponding figures for "suggestion of an unwanted liaison" were 2.2 and 6.8 percent; for "feeling insulted due to staring at a certain part of the body such as the buttocks or breasts," they were 8.3 and 13.6 percent. 6.6 percent of regular workers claimed to have been victims of "lewd writing, images or telephone calls," while the figure for irregular workers was 10.1 percent.

Sexual harassment endured by female employees to avoid a perceived disadvantage such as being picked on, being paid late, having their character insulted or being the subject of malicious rumors, were more frequent than those suffered in order to gain a perceived advantage such as promotion or contract renewal, with the respective figures emerging as 18.2 and 12.8 percent.

"Many irregular workers experienced sexual harassment in a much more direct and threatening form than that of regular workers," said Sungshin Women's University law lecturer and Gonggam fellow Kim Jeong-hye, who conducted the survey. "Many workers were not able to take active measures through fear of losing their jobs. We now need to introduce measures such as holding employers more responsible."

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