SEOUL, Jun. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — The National Union of Media Workers’ committee on women held a press conference on Wednesday to announce the results of a recent study that dealt with the most recent trends and developments pertaining to women in the publishing industry. The press conference focused especially on the increased practice of outsourcing in the industry.
Researchers met 25 female workers in publishing and based the study on their interviews. The research showed that many women in the publishing industry ended up quitting their jobs to become subcontractors, not only due to pregnancy and giving birth but also reasons stemming from work pressure and degrading treatment by their employers.
During the press conference, the women’s committee stated that women in the industry may seem to have made a “choice” to become outsourced freelancers, but in actuality, gender discrimination against women and the current structural problems of the industry were found to be driving factors that have caused the increase in outsourcing.
According to a survey conducted in 2013, the average monthly salary for 403 individuals who worked as freelancers amounted to less than 1.5 million won for 45.9 percent of the respondents. Thus, a large proportion of outsourced workers were paid the bare minimum. To make matters worse, payment was often pushed back many months. In addition, 53.8 percent of respondents said they worked 8 to 14 hours a day on overage, always being pressed by deadlines, while 42 percent said they worked 12 to 14 hours.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
