On the afternoon of March 8, the Roh Hoe Chan Foundation held an event to hand out roses to women invisible workers (cleaning workers, caring workers, platform workers, etc.) ahead of Women’s Day on March 8, at a sewing factory in Jangchungdan-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul. 52) A rose flower is placed next to the sewing machine where Ms. is sewing. Senior Reporter Lee Jeong-yong [email protected]
The Corona 19 virus is not sensitive to people, but the impact of the pandemic was more severe for female workers. The nurses, raised as quarantine heroes, suffered from chronic manpower shortages in hospitals and caring labor at homes. Female sewing workers who have supported their families for over 30 years have been in the blind spot to support Corona 19. Another female emotional worker, who consults female emotional workers, worried that “female workers began to be fired first, as in the IMF period.” The women workers who received roses from the Roh Hoe-chan Foundation on March 8th International Women’s Day were those who were at the forefront of their livelihoods, alleviating the issue of gender equality with their whole bodies.
A rose flower at the labor union office of Seoul National University Hospital in Daehak-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the morning of the 3rd when the Roh Hoe-Chan Foundation held an event to hand out roses to female transparent workers (cleaning workers, caring workers, platform workers, etc.) ahead of Women’s Day on March 8. Kim Hyo-eun (42) nurse, who was handed over, is taking a commemorative photo. Senior Reporter Lee Jeong-yong [email protected]
The media called the medical staff wearing quarantine uniforms and guarding the hospital a hero. Kim Hyo-eun, 42, a nurse working at the Department of Neurology at Seoul National University Hospital in Jongno-gu, Seoul, said that what is needed in the medical field is not such a grand modifier. “I want to work with respect as a professional. I wish the nurses had basic respect as well.” Kim’s work intensity is high. At Seoul National University Hospital, there are many patients who are already severely ill or are required to be tested for rare diseases. Most of them are difficult to move, so they have a lot of’basic care’. Patients who are not free from their body should change their position every 2 to 3 hours. It is difficult to discharge sputum by yourself, so you have to remove it from time to time. Sometimes patients have to change diapers as well. As the access control of guardians has been strengthened due to Corona 19, guidance services to and from the ward have increased. The number of patients a nurse needs to care for is as low as 10, and increases to 16 during the night shift. Most OECD member countries care for 6 to 8 patients per nurse.
Neurology nurse Kim Hyo-eun
“More than the Corona Defense Hero modifier
Respect is more important as a professional”
The position of nurses in hospitals remains weak. Many patients and caregivers still call nurses’lady’. “I was told why the lady asked her guardian for help when she changed diapers.” For female nurses, gender stereotypes and discrimination experienced in daily life are reproduced intact in the medical field. Sexual harassment also occurs frequently. Even recently, a nurse reportedly suffered severe sexual harassment by a patient. The patient, oddly enough, does not say that to the doctor. The nurse endured the situation for two weeks before reporting to the hospital’s legal team. Kim said, “Even if sexual harassment occurs, it is most distressing to respond in a way that says,’Because you are caring for sick people, understand.’ Kim, who has to keep the hospital in three shifts, is also burdened with caring work. Elementary school and junior high school daughters were not able to take care of their children’s meals without the help of their parents, as they were in class at home when they were not at home. “I really wanted to work from home. But my older sister, who works from home, said she couldn’t work because she was taking care of the children, and she went to work on purpose. The child needs to be raised by society, but even though they do not live at home, it is still up to the mother.” During the outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2015, Kim took care of the patient for 6 months in the quarantine ward. Seoul National University Hospital said that there was relatively less confusion when responding to Corona 19 due to the rules and manpower standards established at that time. However, he said the treatment of nurses remained unchanged. “It seems like the nurse manpower is still scarce. If there is it, and if it is not written, it fits… .”
A rose flower at a sewing factory in Jangchungdan-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul was held on the afternoon of the 3rd when the Roh Hoe-chan Foundation held an event to hand over roses to female transparent workers (cleaning workers, caring workers, platform workers, etc.) ahead of Women’s Day on March 8. Noh Kyung-sook (52), who received the message, is taking a commemorative photo. Senior Reporter Lee Jeong-yong [email protected]
Noh Kyung-sook, 52, who works at Taeil Cloth in Sindang-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, is a veteran sewing worker with more than 30 years of experience. Mr. Roh left his hometown Jeolla-do and came to Seoul, where a sewing factory was gathered, following his older sister he knew when he was 17, just after graduating from junior high school, just like young female workers at the time. “At that time, if I couldn’t afford to continue my studies, I came up to Seoul with my sisters and local sisters who knew that way. No one knows, so if the room and board is solved, you will be doing a sewing machine job.” It is said that the factory where Mr. Roh first got a job was dark all day and the air was stuffy because there were no windows or ventilation facilities. After sleeping in the double-story attic, he immediately came down to the workbench and worked 10 to 12 hours a day. The height of the ceiling was so low that when working, the back was not properly stretched, but the factory did not pay a dime for nearly two years. “When an 18-year-old girl without a guardian asks for money, swearword comes in. I didn’t know how to deal with it, so I worked with Eo Young Boo-young.”
Mr. Roh Kyung-sook, 30 years of sewing labor
“I came up when I was 17 and went home to half my salary
I haven’t found the right, what do I need? ”
Even after I started making money of 90,000 won a month after moving to the factory after “my head got bigger,” life wasn’t easy. Roh, the second of seven siblings, had to spend about half of his salary home. The money that Mr. Roh earned while working as Sida (assisted by a sewing machine) became the tuition for his younger siblings. After Roh became Oya (a sewing machine), the money he earned became the child support expenses he gave birth to after marriage. While traveling between Sindang-dong and Changsin-dong to support the house, Roh came across a herniated disc and a neck disc, and sometimes took a break from work for a month or two. Roh, who has worked as a sewing machine for over 30 years, was not a wage worker. Sewing workers are actually affiliated with a factory, but they work as a kind of freelancer, not an employed worker. To meet the demands of the factory, he had to go to work at 8 am and continue working until 10-11 pm, but officially, he was not a wage worker, so he couldn’t even dream of four major insurances, bonuses, and severance pay. The vast majority of sewing workers who do not have evidence that they have been paid salary did not receive any subsidies other than the disaster subsidies provided to the nation. Many of the sewing workers who are in charge of household living as women in their 50s or older are in the blind spot to support Corona 19. “I don’t think of people who have been given their rights to some extent, but they need this, they need that too. If you live like us, you don’t immediately think of what you need.” Even though I was pregnant, I had to work while eating dust rice without a day off. It’s been 30 years since I’ve been supporting my family without thinking about what’s wrong. Mr. Noh said, “I hope that someday sewing workers can take a menstrual vacation like a desk worker, and a day when they can relax on a monthly basis if they are sick.”
On the morning of March 8, the Roh Hoe Chan Foundation held an event to hand out roses to female transparent workers (cleaning workers, caring workers, platform workers, etc.) ahead of Women’s Day on March 8, Seoul’s Emotional Worker Rights Protection Center in Yulgok-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul. In the room, Chairman Don-Moon Jo (fourth from the right in the front row) delivers a rose and takes a commemorative photo with the staff. Senior Reporter Lee Jeong-yong [email protected]
Geum-Bun Yoo, 54, is in charge of the psychological counseling team at the Center for the Protection of the Rights of Emotional Workers in Seoul. Recently, it is said that the number of female workers complaining about’dismissal anxiety’ has increased. “Even in IMF, unmarried female workers were fired first. Such things are happening even in the coronavirus period right now. Women in the manufacturing industry or in jobs dealing with customers often talk about such concerns.” Established in 2018, the center provides one-on-one psychological counseling for emotional labor workers working at business sites in Seoul. More than 70 counselors working at 8 base centers conduct 200 consultations a month. In addition to well-known emotional workers such as call center workers, nurses, and social workers, workers of various occupations, such as teachers, public servants, and platform workers, visit the center for counseling. Team leader Yoo said that if there is legal scope for legal disputes to female workers who lost their jobs due to Corona 19, they will guide them to the Seoul Labor Rights Center, but if not, it is not easy to provide assistance. There were cases where counseling could not be continued even if there was a mental crisis due to problems with livelihood right away.
Gumbun Yoo, counseling on emotional labor
Women are complaining of anxiety about firing
“Department store cleaning workers too… Upset”
Team leader Yoo’s concern is not just cliche. Looking at the current status of the number of employed in 2020, announced by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family on the 5th, the decline in women employed compared to 2019 was 137,000, 1.6 times higher than that of men (82,000). The employment rate for women aged 15 to 64 fell from 57.8% to 56.7% over the same period. The number of employed in the wholesale and retail business, accommodation/restaurant business, and education service business decreased by 405,000, of which 251,000 (62%) were female. “The cleaners working in the department store renew their contracts with consignment companies once every 1-2 years. But recently, they haven’t been able to keep the contract and have been fired a lot. The person who received counseling from me said that he was fired because the contract period at the end of the year was over, but I was upset.” Team leader Yoo hoped that on World Women’s Day, the employment problem of female workers facing the shock of Corona 19 could be resolved. “I have seen a number of times when a female worker is fired first, so I have asked for counseling. I hope our society knows the seriousness of this problem and solves it together.”
▶Shortcut: Roh Hoe-chan’s rose flower, delivered on behalf of female workers
http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/society/women/983328.html By Lim Jae-woo, staff reporter [email protected]