A woman who recently applied for a job as a nursery school teacher has written about her unpleasant experience on on-line billboards for job seekers.
Her job interviewer began with questions about her family's economic status, which had no relationship with her job qualifications, and then proceeded to ask her other personal questions, such as her height, weight and other physical features.
"It seemed as if I applied for a beauty contest," wrote the applicant, surnamed Kim. "What do my measurements have to do with taking care of children? I would never work at that daycare center even if I do pass the test." Some employers also ask women whether they can continue working after marriage.
Examples like this is why the Ministry of Employment and Labor recently announced the enforcement of guidelines on prospective employers in posting want ads or interviewing applicants. These prohibit all discrimination by gender and for personal reasons, such as physical measurements, appearance and marital status. Violators must pay fines of up to 5 million won ($4,430).
"Many employers do not even know their ads and interview questions are violating rules that ban sexual discrimination," Kim Jong-chul, director of the ministry's Women Employment Division, was quoted as saying in the daily Hankook Ilbo. "We hope they will rectify these practices."
Of course there are exceptions such as when hiring singers and fashion models as well as selecting monks and nuns, Kim said. Those workplaces which have extreme imbalances in the ratio of women to men might prove advantageous to applicants of either sex in absolute shortages.
Her job interviewer began with questions about her family's economic status, which had no relationship with her job qualifications, and then proceeded to ask her other personal questions, such as her height, weight and other physical features.
"It seemed as if I applied for a beauty contest," wrote the applicant, surnamed Kim. "What do my measurements have to do with taking care of children? I would never work at that daycare center even if I do pass the test." Some employers also ask women whether they can continue working after marriage.
Examples like this is why the Ministry of Employment and Labor recently announced the enforcement of guidelines on prospective employers in posting want ads or interviewing applicants. These prohibit all discrimination by gender and for personal reasons, such as physical measurements, appearance and marital status. Violators must pay fines of up to 5 million won ($4,430).
"Many employers do not even know their ads and interview questions are violating rules that ban sexual discrimination," Kim Jong-chul, director of the ministry's Women Employment Division, was quoted as saying in the daily Hankook Ilbo. "We hope they will rectify these practices."
Of course there are exceptions such as when hiring singers and fashion models as well as selecting monks and nuns, Kim said. Those workplaces which have extreme imbalances in the ratio of women to men might prove advantageous to applicants of either sex in absolute shortages.
