Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2020, published 109th ILC session (2021)

Workers with Family Responsibilities Convention, 1981 (No. 156) - Republic of Korea (Ratification: 2001)

Other comments on C156

Observation

2020
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2011

Direct Request

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The Committee takes note of the Government’s report and the supplementary information provided in light of the decision adopted by the Governing Body at its 338th Session (June 2020).

The Committee also notes the observations of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) and the Korea Employers’ Federation (KEF), communicated with the Government’s report, as well as the observations of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) received on 20 September 2019. It further notes the observations of the KEF communicated with the Government’s supplementary information.

Article 3 of the Convention. National policy. Legislative developments. In its previous comment, the Committee requested the Government to provide information on: (1) the application of the Framework Act on Gender Equality, 2014 as amended, and the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act, 2007 as amended; (2) the concrete measures taken in application of several plans aiming at gender equality in employment and support to workers with family responsibilities; and (3) the family-friendly company certification system, indicating the criteria taken into account and process to award the certification to a corporation. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its report, notably the implementation of the Second Basic Plan for Gender Equality Policies (2018–2022) to ensure equal rights and opportunities of men and women and create a society that promotes work-life balance, the setting up of a gender equality committee and yearly implementation plans. It notes with interest that the scope of application of the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act, which used to be limited to businesses with five employees or more, has been extended to all workplaces, except those constituted only by relatives living together and housekeeping employees (article 2 of the Presidential Decree No. 28910 of May 28, 2018), and that the paternity leave, under article 18-2 of the Act, has been extended from five to ten days in August 2019.

The Committee notes the Government’s indication that it has established and implemented the “Women’s Employment Plan” as the Sixth Basic Plan for Equal Employment Opportunities, focusing on three aspects (preventing career breaks, supporting reemployment after a career break and creating a non-discriminatory working environment) with seven major projects and 64 implementation strategies. It has taken measures to increase support and quality of childcare and nursery services and guaranteed workers’ maternal and parental rights by eliminating blind spots in maternity and parental leave (notably by raising the benefits after the first three months of childcare leave, up to 50 per cent of the ordinary wage, and allowing workers who have worked for less than one year to take childcare leave). It also promoted family-friendly business management by raising public awareness on the issue, enhancing support and guidance for companies to promote work-life balance, strengthening public-private cooperation and promoting a culture of leaving work on time. According to the Government, the results of a 2018 implementation monitoring survey show enhanced support for childcare and the spread of a ‘work-life balance’ culture. The Government introduced child benefit in the amount of 100,000 won per month (US$80) for families in the bottom 90 per cent of income-earners and expanded the childcare support infrastructure (12 new community childcare centres, 574 public kindergartens and 238 public childcare centres). It also improved the childcare support system, notably for vulnerable families, by upgrading in-home childcare services and increasing childcare expense support for single-parent families. Finally, it raised the ceiling for father’s childcare leave bonus schemes and increased the income replacement rate of benefits for reduced working hours during childcare periods (up to 80 per cent); implemented a vacation support program for workers and encouraged more companies to apply for a “family-friendly enterprise certification” (3,833 as of January 2020, compared to 2,807 in 2017). The Committee notes the information provided by the Government on the criteria taken into account and the process to award such certification.

The Committee welcomes such initiatives, as well as the implementation of the Second Basic Plan for the Promotion of Economic Activities of Career-interrupted Women (2015-2018) and the coming into force of the third Basic Plan (2020–2024). The Committee notes that many of these initiatives are geared specifically towards women and that even the names of some of the plans and initiatives reveal the correlation between caregiving duties (especially towards children) and female workers. The Committee wishes to recall that the Convention, and its accompanying Recommendation (the Workers with Family Responsibilities Recommendation, 1981 (No. 165)), have the dual objective of creating equality of opportunity and treatment in working life between men and women with family responsibilities, on the one hand, and between men and women with such responsibilities and workers without such responsibilities, on the other. Where inequalities exist between men and women workers regarding their family responsibilities and where that situation results in restricting the economic activity of women workers only, it would be legitimate to aim measures at women, provided that men are not formally barred from access to such measures should they find themselves in the same circumstances (see General Survey of 1993 on workers with family responsibilities, paragraphs 25 to 29). The Committee also notes the observations made by FKTU and KCTU regarding the fact that family obligations are still overwhelmingly associated with, and carried out by, women and that female workers’ careers are disproportionately impacted.

In view of the above, the Committee requests the Government: (i) to indicate the concrete measures taken to promote equality of opportunity and treatment in employment for men and women workers with family responsibilities as well as between workers with family responsibilities and those without such responsibilities; (ii) to indicate, more particularly, how it is ensured that those family-friendly measures do not reinforce the stereotype predominantly associating family responsibilities to female workers and create a feminization of diverse forms of employment and working arrangements; and (iii) to continue to provide information on any new legislative or policy development with a view to implementing the Convention.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.