“Do you have a tattoo on your leg?” Just because one didn’t wear a skirt: Uniforms reveal discrimination

The uniform that Gweon Hui-yeon (alias) received when she worked in a hotel: The jacket is made of polyester, a hydrophobic material, and the waist is designed for a tight fit, making it uncomfortable. The H-line skirt, which tightly hugs the hips and legs, is short and reaches only as far down as a hand span up from the knees. Gweon eventually spent 70,000 won of her own money to purchase pants from a uniform-selling website, designated by the hotel. Seong Dong-hun

Gweon Hui-yeon (alias) quit after working in a hotel in a small city in Gyeongsangnam-do last year, but when she first joined the hotel, she had great pride in her job as a hotelier.

However, one day, the hotel introduced a dress code for female employees. The women were to wear uniforms.

The sudden instruction to wear uniforms was hard to understand, but what was the most difficult to accept was the fact that female employees all had to wear skirts. The male employees bought and wore comfortable clothes according to their tastes as usual. What’s more, the hotel said, “We’re sorry we can’t give you anything,” and handed out money to the male staff for clothing expenses. When Gweon asked the hotel why they didn’t hand out uniforms with pants, the hotel told her to personally buy the pants. When she went to work wearing pants she bought with her own money, the hotel president scanned her from head to toe and said, “You’re not wearing a skirt. Do you have a tattoo on your leg?”

The banking sector is another field that has long forced its employees to wear uniforms. Chae Su-gyeong (alias), who has worked in a Credit Union branch in the Yeongnam region for nearly three decades said, “We mostly handle in-person affairs, and junior-level female staff must wear uniforms.” Chae said there was an invisible barrier between those who had to wear the same work clothes, uniforms, and those who didn’t.

When it comes to uniforms, not only are they used to discriminate gender, but they are also used to discriminate rank. Famous franchise brands from overseas are no exception.

Gim Yu-gyeong (alias), who once worked as a crew for four months at a McDonald’s store in the Seoul metropolitan area summarized the characteristics of the uniform she received by simply saying, “None.” The T-shirt she received did not stretch and was not breathable. There were no pockets in her pants.

The uniform worn by a McDonald’s crew: Gim Yu-gyeong (alias) said, “The sleeves of the T-shirt I received before were so short that the grease would splatter on my arms when I cooked the patty.” She further said, “I think they didn’t consider the characteristics of the job and just made the uniform with a general summer T-shirt in mind.” Seong Dong-hun

McDonald’s employees start out at the bottom as a crew, then move on to middle management as team leaders, managers, and branch heads. They all wear T-shirts with collars, but there is a difference. The T-shirts worn by team leaders have buttons on them, unlike the shirts worn by the crew, and gives off a politer image.

In a workplace that hands out uniforms with an intention to discriminate and control employees rather than to offer functional clothing, it is hard to say that the workers are safe.

Uniforms at work change according to the speed of change in our society. In a society that has no interest in the labor performed by people who do “invisible work,” it is unlikely for them to wear safe uniforms. If a society believes that when it comes to women, appearances are more important than the work, then it will be difficult for the female worker to get work-friendly uniforms or clothes that help them perform better. In a society that discriminates non-regular workers from regular workers, non-regular employees will end up receiving uniforms of lower quality.