Korean Women Workers and the Economic Crisis-effects, demands and strategies by the civil society; responses by government and IMF in an NGO perspective Choi,Myung-sook (General Secretary, Women Workers¡¯ Action Center of Womenlink) 1. IMF, the most popular term in Korea The recent economic crisis is totally changing Korean peoples¡¯ lives. ¡°I aM Fired ¡±. ¡°I aM Fighting.....¡± For the last six months, IMF has been the most popular term in Korea. Everybody , even 4 or 5 year small kids, knows what IMF is and what the economic crisis brought about. At first, they were upset and embarrassed with the sudden situation. The government said that the Korean economy will recover in the near future and ¡®Let us share this pain¡¯. But many Korean people are now likely to be skeptical of the quick economic recovery. After IMF bailout many Korean¡¯s understanding experienced is that something totally different from the past is happening to their lives. Above all, losing jobs is the most feared thing, which made the lives of fired workers and their families totally transformed. Everyday, newspapers tell miserable stories of the unemployed and their families: increasing homelessness and increasing abandoned kids, suicide, rising domestic violence and divorce rates. In a short period, many Koreans faced a totally different and terrifying social and economic circumstance, which they had never experienced or even predicted before. They are struggling through the unexpected and sudden situation. In particular, it is said that the dismissed workers is under ¡®group mental depression¡¯ with uncertainty of their future. According to statistics office, as of March this year the number of unemployed is around 1.4 million, two thirds of whom have been unemployed for the last three months.   2. The effects of Economic Crisis As shown in the march of the celebration of May day, in which there were clashes between demonstrators and riot polices, establishing countermeasures for ensuring employment security and re-negotiation with IMF about Korea¡¯s bailout loan and employment creation is the hottest issue in labor community in Korea. Due to the ongoing structural adjustment program, some labor-related practices have led to much easier massive lay-offs than ever before and removing existing regulations on employing dispatched workers by the policy of labor flexibility. In these practices, the government stresses that business should be tried to avoid massive lay-offs except in inevitable circumstances and the dismissal should be regarded as the last available means. However, majority of them have not implemented the policy. Cutting wages and enforced retirement without consultation with workers or trade unions are frequently taking place, while the trade unions are gradually getting less powerful. Despite many cases of unfair labor practice of management, the policy of government had not have so much. ¡®Sharing Pain¡¯ policy of government is not shared, but just on the labors¡¯ shoulders. The circumstance of workplace is getting more competitive and individualistic, compared to the past since they are very concerned about who is the next to be fired. Both men and women are faced with a difficult situation from the current economic crisis, but in quite different ways. In spite of that the increasing rate of women workers¡¯ unemployment is higher than men, the employment security policy has focused on mainly the male dismissed workers. In fact, it is assumed that the number of unemployed women workers is far more than the official figure because many women who were engaged in temporary jobs, daily work and home-based work which is not taken into account. Despite the participation of 50% of women in economic activities, women are regarded as homemakers rather than workers or job-seekers due to the traditional Korean ideology that women are simply homemakers. The trend of unemployed women According to a survey, as of February, the unemployed women reached more than one-third of all the unemployed number. ¡¡ Oct. ¡¯97 Dec. ¡¯97 Jan .¡®98 Mar.¡®98 Economically active women(thousand) 8,967 8,621 8,068 8,436 % of women economically Active (%) 50.0 47.9 44.8 46.8 Unemployed women(thousand) 161 238 317 439 The unemployment rate (%) 1.8 2.8 3.9 5.2 (from: Government Statistics Office, March 1998) Women working for firms with less than 5 workers covered 62.7% of the entire women¡¯s workforce. Many small factories have been bankrupted and in turn women workers in those firms automatically became unemployed. As a result, the number of women unemployed is expected to be further increasing. In particular, the women workers fired from those factories are struggling to survive and have more difficulty in seeking proper jobs to support their children. Office women workers who make up 47.2% of the women workforce are becoming the first to be fired. Among them, the first group to be forced to leave the office are married women with children and women in working couples, the next is long service women and temporary women workers. Here, traditional patriarchal ideology that ¡®men are breadwinner, women are dependent on men¡¯ is naturally reappearing. In addition, ¡®Help your husband regain confidence¡¯ has become a common slogan to the general public including newspapers and TV. The women with unemployed husbands are encouraged to energize their husband. They have to get paid jobs to support their family at the same time in stead of their fired husband. According to a job counseling center, many of them are saying that ¡®any job is OK, visiting housekeeper, milk-delivery, guard whatever¡¯. Women are being expelled from secure work to more temporary or informal positions such as service sectors, part-time in banks. The government is establishing some countermeasures to resolve the unemployment problem and to support the unemployed through the establishment of social security and job creation programs. However, this policy it is criticized by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and some women NGOs that those programs are not based on long-term strategy. The government does not much identify the actual situation of the unemployment: and the financial sources to establish the social security system is somewhat questionable; overall policies are focused on male workers, hardly on female workers.   3. Demands of Civil Society Many civic groups demand that the government should more actively intervene in employment security and employment creation. Reduction of working hours to maintain employment, relocation of the workforce and the expansion of the social security system are strongly urged to government. Women¡¯s groups and civic groups have the following points regarding the employment policy of women workers. Government should take gender perspectives into the account the establishment of countermeasures to resolve unemployment. Even before the economic crisis, around 17% of women workers had been responsible for supporting their family as the bread-winner and the number is gradually increasing. For example, according to a recent survey, about 40% of over forty aged men in unemployment are dependent on their wives¡¯ income. This figure says that actual women¡¯s position in family is pretty different from Korean traditional ideas on women. However, the government policy regarding unemployment and social welfare is based on the assumption that only men are bread-winner and responsible for their family. 2. Women who worked for small firms with less than 5 employees should benefit from the current employment insurance. This means that those social benefit should involve the women as beneficiaries. It is also demanded that government should establish much more child care facilities to support married women job-seekers. With preventive countermeasures against arbitrary and unlawful mass dismissals, the discriminated dismissal against women should be removed. Management say that ¡®you have your husband or father to support you. Go home¡¯. But ¡®their supporters¡¯ are already unemployed or in insecure status of employment. Furthermore, eventhough they have those supporting them, the women¡¯s right to work should be respected and gender is not a reason to be fired. Women should participate in decision making for employment and social security policy. In those decision making in GO-institution or trade unions to establish countermeasures to resolve unemployment, women have little place to participate.   4. Strategy of Civil society In fact, for some months after the economic crisis, most NGOs including women worker¡¯s groups have little concrete or feasible strategy to present to government. It is partly caused by the expectation that the new government would establish proper policy to overcome the economic crisis. Besides due to the unexpected economic crisis and IMF bailout, we need to take time to understand why the crisis happened and how it impacts lives. The social circumstance was that our country might collapse unless the government made agreement with the IMF conditionality and people should follow the government policy. There are also some different perspectives, strategy and action programs between NGOs. Some social movement groups including women worker¡¯s groups and KCTU finally realized the whole picture and planned joint action programs. Firstly, they plan to actively push government to work out effective employment security policy by means of having rallies , demonstrations and also lobby etc. In that action, the unemployed in big cities like Seoul and Pusan have started their own organizations. Some of them are carrying out regular marches or rallies to make their demands and situations publicized. The coalition of the unemployed is expected to set up. Many NGOs are urging the reduction of working time to forty hours to create more jobs, reform of conglomerates and more funds to support more the unemployed. These aspects are shared by many NGOs. Women worker¡¯s groups and trade unions, even some university students have planned some joint action programs in accordance with this strategy. Secondly, active public relations and more education programs is necessary to share NGOs¡¯ perspective with the general public. Thirdly, international network of NGOs of those countries in economic crisis is considered as a strategy tyo share experiences and to seek proper counter measures. It is worried about by the government that due to the active actions of NGOs and TUs foreign investors will be not willing to invest in Korea and economic crisis might be getting worse. In this situation, however with long-term view many NGOs urge that the government should much more try to listen people¡¯s voice and establish more feasible countermeasures to effectively overcome economic crisis.