Gender and the Labour Movement
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A S I AN LABOUR PublisHed BY Asia Monitor ResourCE Centre Ltd HonUPDATEG KonG Issue 7 APRIL 2009–JUNE 2009 Gender and the Labour Movement ASIAN LABOUR UPDATE APRIL - JUNE 2009 A SI Contents AN THEME: GENDER AND THE LABOUR MOVEMENT BOUR Editorial: Gender and the Labour Movement: Gender = Women? ...... 3 LA Korean Trade Unions and Organization of Korean Women Workers .. ..................................................................................Jeong Moon Ja 4 UPDATE How KASBI Integrates a Gender Perspective Into Its Union Work .... ..................................................................................... Nining Elitos 7 The Battles of Filipino Women Workers .............................................. ISSN 1815-9389 ........................................................................................GABRIELA 10 Issue Number 71 April - June 2009 © Copyright 2009 Asian Labour Update; all rights reserved Gender and Labour Column: Interview with Miyoko Shiozawa ......... 14 OSH Column: Lay Down or Lay-off ...........................Omana George 17 EDITOR & LAYOUT Doris Lee Regional Roundup ............................................................................... 20 Resources/Reviews .............................................................................. 30 EDITORIAL TEAM Apo Leong, Sanjiv Pandita, Omana George, Anoop Sukumaran, Sri Wulandari, Hilde van Regenmortel, GUEST WRITERS IN THIS ISSUE Sally Choi Jeong Moon Ja is Chairperson of Korea Women Workers Association. Email: [email protected] ASIAN LABOUR UPDATE (ALU) is a quarterly news bulletin on labour issues in southern and Nining Elitos is President of KASBI (Congress of Indonesian Unions eastern Asia. It is prepared and published by Alliance). Email: [email protected] the Asia Monitor Resource Centre Ltd (AMRC), a non-profit, pro-labour, non-governmental GABRIELA is a grassroots-based alliance of more than 200 women’s organisation based in Hong Kong. organizations, institutions, desks and programs in the Philippines. Email: Articles and information in ALU may be re- produced in non-profit publications with clear [email protected] citations, credit to author/s and ALU. For online reprints, please notify us of the relevant URL; for printed matter, please send one hard copy to the address below. Changes to Asian Labour Update ALU articles do not necessarily reflect views and positions of AMRC. Opinions to the editor are encouraged. ALU In this issue - NEW: Gender and Labour Column will be added annual subscription is US$20.00. Pay by to our regular issue, in addition to the long-running Occupational credit card on our web site (URL below), or send a cheque made out to ‘Asia Monitor Safety and Health Column. Resource Centre Ltd’, or request an invoice. Asian labour groups and NGOs may ask for complimentary subscriptions. Please send Next issue - Asian Labour Update will be re-organized to provide payment or enquiries to: more analysis of the news coming in from each country. Before The Editor 31 August, readers are also invited to give their suggestions on Asia Monitor Resource Centre improving Asian Labour Update for your needs. Email: doris@ Flat 7, 9/F, Block A Fuk Keung Industrial Building amrc.org.hk. 66-68 Tong Mi Road Kowloon, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2332-346 Welcome to all readers to share your reactions to articles Fax: (852) 2385-539 of ALU, as well as your suggestions on any aspect of ALU! E-mail: [email protected] URL: http://www.amrc.org.hk In coming issues, we will begin to offer a space for reader feedback. The Editor Caption: GABRIELA in the Philippines - GABRIELA women during the May 1 Labour Day Rally. ASIAN LABOUR UPDATE 2 APRIL - JUNE 2009 Editorial GENDER AND THE LABOUR MOVEMENT: GENDER = WOMEN? In the labour movement it is widely known now, that problems such as who will care for the children when the women’s employment is mostly in labour intensive sec- mothers are organizing or in meeting; also, their culture tors – garments footwear, food processing and electronics. and the role of females within it, often represses them from One thirds of the labour force in manufacturing, both offering their opinion, going out alone to attend meetings, formal and informal in low income developing countries, or play any role other than an accessory one. are women. In free trade zones, the female labour force On the other hand, women workers are also very participation can be 60-97%. present, if not dominant, in irregular and informalized In the UN Word Survey on the Role of Women in jobs, and in the informal economy. This explains why Development, no evidence is found, of any closure in the often women must struggle themselves to form their own wage gap between men and women. unions; they must organize where unions dominated by Women’s work remains largely unpaid and unvalued men simply do not even approach. This kind of scenario – hence the expression: a household GDP goes down is described in the article on page 4 of this issue, by Jeong when a man gets married. Many countries show rising Moon Ja, the chairperson of the Korean Women Workers poverty among women, even as their participation in Association. employment goes up. A common rationale for deciding the approach to In both effort to reduce poverty and improve work- organizing of women is the analysis of gender relations- ers’ rights and welfare, therefore, it is nearly universally an understanding of the power relations between men acknowledged now in the labour movement that women and women, and not merely a split of men and women as must be active participants in it - both through represen- static human types. The concept of capitalist patriarchy tation as general members and through leadership and is another common concept used in analyzing the obvi- decision-making within unions. ous phenomena of women, especially women of color or This issue will focus on the question of the role migrant or ethnic minority women, as the bottom-most in women play in the labour union—as members, as leaders, the scale of labourers, with the least rights. With this more and as decision-makers. It is not uncommon that women nuanced understanding of gender relations it becomes are the majority of workers in a workplace such as factory, clear that men’s roles also must change, especially in yet the union leaders are men. In some cases, women are the division of work at home. AMRC also believes that made leaders of distinct committees, “women’s commit- these concepts need to be more clearly elaborated among tees’ which are ‘for women’ and handle issues of child- labour groups. To strictly divide women off as a subgroup care, sexual harassment’, and so on. In other instances, of workers who should handle their ‘women’s issues’on trade unions judge it as a must to create a female quota their own, simply obscures the way that capital exploits in the leadership positions of a union. In other instances, divisions in society and deepens them, causing a great re- working women have created their own form of associa- gression in the pursuit of genuine democracy and equality tion which handles their work-related welfare, and which among workers. Unions as organizations that battle against has a structure different from traditional trade unions. In capitalism should reject patriarchal values embedded in this issue, we would like to example these various ap- it, not replicate it within their organizations. proaches to women’s roles as participants in the struggle From this issue onwards, Asian Labour Update will to improve rights of workers. contain a column on gender. We hope that this issue and With a gender analysis, one goes beyond seeing the ongoing column on gender contributes to a grow- women’s low participation in labour union activities and ing clarity among the labour movement about how we leadership as simple lack of will or conscientization. can overcome old practices which demean and exploit Women have double burdens of unpaid responsibilities women, and on the other hand, pay tribute to women in the home as well as paid work, bringing practical labour organizers and how their struggle has led to gains for workers overall. ASIAN LABOUR UPDATE 3 APRIL - JUNE 2009 Gender and the Labour Movement KOREAN TRADE UNIONS AND ORGANIZATION OF KOREAN WOMEN WORKERS BY JEONG MOON JA 1. The Korean trade union movement in the 1970s At that time, the mainstream of the labour movement The Korean trade union movement in the 1970s was doubted the need for the independent women workers’ led by women workers. Young women workers in the movement on the following two grounds: one was that 1970s were mainly engaged in export-led light industries women workers’ organizations could split and undermine such as textile, garment, clothes, footwear and wig indus- the Korean labour movement; and the other insistence was tries. They struggled against inhumane treatment, low that women’s issues would be addressed naturally when wages, and long working hours through trade unions. labour issues were resolved. At that time, women workers were not organized into A rally in commemoration of the martyr Kim Kyeong- separate organizations, but they individually joined trade suk, held in September 1986, provided a specific opportu- unions, or established trade unions to obtain their rights. nity for the foundation of the Korean Women Workers As- Their efforts on behalf of women workers’ issues were sociation (KWWA). The memorial rally, jointly organized only partial, but they did fight for the obtainment of men- by several