Towards decent work for Domestic Workers in South Korea: Ways to go

Abstract: Domestic work is one of the oldest and most important occupations for many women in many countries. However, it is one of the occupations that are still undervalued and neglected. It is often regarded as unskilled because most women have traditionally been considered capable of doing the work. When paid, the work remains undervalued and poorly regulated. These days, it is also a global phenomenon that is linked with gender, race, ethnicity and nationality. Like most of the countries around the world, domestic workers in South Korea have existed but totally neglected. Their fundamental human and labor rights have failed to get attention. International human rights standards and labor standards are to be applied to ‘everyone’ and ‘every worker’ respectively hence domestic workers are definitely under the protection of those standards. On the other hand, it is also true that human rights and working conditions of domestic workers have not been dealt with adequately by the ILO or other international organizations. However, it is positive that at the 2010 International Labor Conference subject on standard setting for decent work for domestic work will be discussed for the first time. Looking into national legislation in South Korea, domestic workers have been totally excluded from labor legislation and consequently not protected from any degrading or inhumane labor conditions. Moreover, non-recognition as “workers” leads to exclusion from employment insurance and industrial accident compensation schemes. Migrant domestic workers are more vulnerable because either labor legislation or migrant workers’ relevant legislation does not adequately protect their labor rights. Therefore it is essential to bring the issue of domestic workers out from the shadow and initiate discussion to recognize their ‘work’ and protect their human and labor rights regardless of their status and nationality.