By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter

Disabled women face many hardships in society. Being female as well as handicapped often puts them at a great disadvantage even before birth, according to a guidebook recently published by the advocacy group, “Differently Abled Women United.”

One case cited in the book regards a mother, who took her mentally-ill teenage daughter to a gynecologist as she had just started her first menstruation. The mother asked the doctor to remove the daughter’s uterus so that she wouldn’t become pregnant.

Another is about a woman with a mental disability, who was fired by a computer component plant she had worked in for four years. She was the first among target workers the company planned to sack because she was “disabled and pregnant.”

The guidebook contains many more such cases of discrimination against disabled women at work, in society and even within their own family.

“They are wrongfully treated regarding their basic rights such as parenting and working,” said Kim Young-jin, an official at the National Rehabilitation Center, the state advocacy for disabled people.
He said that disabled people’s right to be a mother has been guaranteed by law since 1998, but they are still fighting not just against prejudices but also a lack of practical help.

“Currently, the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs is providing housekeeping services to those who have given birth. However, the service area is limited and they have to wait in line to get help,” Kim said. “The rehabilitation center provides obstetric services to those people, but the demand always outweighs the supply.

“The most important thing will be for people to understand that they, too, have the right to have babies and become mothers, but they just need a little help from others.”

Experts say that these hardships facing disabled women are made even more severe considering the low level of empowerment facing women in society.

According to the Labor Ministry report, women stand 42.6 percent below their male peers in terms of salary and promotion opportunities among others. Experts say disabled females have to compete with not only non-disabled, but disabled men too.

In a 2005 government report, only 28.4 percent of disabled females had jobs while the rate marked 55.2 percent among disabled males. The figure is also far behind the able-bodied female rate of 50.1 percent.

“Employers are required to hire at least 2 percent of its work force from among the disabled. Employers want males for the jobs rather than handicapped women,” Sung Je-gyeong, head of the Gyeongnam institute for disabled policies, was quoted as saying. “The government should come up with a disabled female quota for workplaces.”

bjs@koreatimes.co.kr