Synopsis:
A ‘missing’ B/L statement causes problems between sales team three and the resource department. The rising tension results in a revolution of past actions of sales team three’s manager, Oh Sanshik and the Department Head of the Resource Department, Ma Bok-ryul.
In October 2017, after allegations came out that former American movie producer, Harvey Weinstein, abused his position of power and sexually assaulted and harassed numerous women, the #metoo movement was born. Women began to speak out about their own experiences; forming a dialogue that slowly began to make impact all over the world. In South Korea, the #metoo movement gained traction in February of 2018. Seo Ji-hyeon, a prosecutor at the Tongyang Branch of the Changwon District Prosecutors’ Office, told her own story of sexual assault by former prosecutor and high level ministry worker, Ahn Tae-geun. Similar to America, this one woman’s words sparked other woman in Korea to come out and tell their own stories. Thus reinforcing, that workplace sexual harassment and assault is a serious issue that needs to be universally addressed.
Though Misaeng came out before the #metoo movement, its representation of the treatment of women in the workplace resonates with many of the stories revealed. In this paper, I am going to talk about how Misaeng in episode 5 reveals the challenges woman face in the workforce. Specifically, in regards to sexual harassment.
In episode 5, Ma Bok-ryul, the Head of the Resource Department, is revealed to have, just last year, sexually harassed an employee. Apparently, “the woman’s club brought up charges, and he got a three month pay cut” [time: 37:58-37:36]. However, despite being reprimanded for his actions, Ma Bok-ryul doesn’t seem to believe he has done anything wrong. In fact, he defends himself by arguing that it was then’s fault; saying that “the one who wore the plunging neckline is at fault” [time: 40:28-38:57]. He even complained saying that: “It’s also sexual harassment to ask for coffee. Worrying about them not being able to get married is sexual harassment. I can’t live with all of these provocative women!” [time:40:28-38:57] Ma Bok-ryul’s excuses are fairly typical responses to allegations of sexual harassment. In fact Vogue (now you know its universally known), did an article called “11 of The Most Ridiculously Bogus Excuses People Make for Sexual Harassment and Abuse” which had at number one “Women ask for it in how they dress” and number 11 “Ugh, can’t guys say anything anymore? What’s next—we’ll be arrested for complimenting our female colleagues’ haircuts?”
In many ways, Ma Bok-ryul represents the fundamental issue with sexual harassment at work. Since, he promotes bad conduct towards woman by constantly berating and blaming female employees in front of co-workers. His actions are then interpreted as encouragements for other employees to act, in a similar fashion, in order to gain his approval. Besides encouraging his employees to act despicably, Ma Bok-ryul is also in a position to make it harder for victims to speak out against him. As they may fear repercussions such as: employment termination, being accused of lying, the offender getting away with it or the offender simply being given a minor reprimand. In Ma Bok-ryul’s case it was the latter one. By having little consequences for his actions it seems that Ma Bok-ryul didn’t learn his lesson. And in fact, doesn’t believe himself in the wrong.
Though it may have been overdramatized the underlying message in Misaeng is clear, the mistreatment of women in the workforce is a real concern. Men like Ma Bok-ryul with power over woman make working a greater challenge than it should be. And now with the #metoo movement, no one can say that this only happens in k-dramas.
Questions:
What can South Koreans do to improve the treatment of women in the workplace? What can women do to help?
What should be the consequences for work place sexual harassment? Who should decide?
Woman getting pregnant was a matter that created more animosity towards working women. What can South Korea do to put less pressure on women to choose between being a career and having a family (instead of doing both)?
Bibliography:
Misaeng 미생 (also known as: 아직 살아 있지 못한 자 “An Incomplete Life”). Directed by Kim Won Seok. South Korea: Number 3 Pictures, 2014. Netflix.
11 of The Most Ridiculously Bogus Excuses People Make for Sexual Harassment and Abuse. Vogue. Accessed June 10, 2018.
https://www.vogue.com/article/the-worst-excuses-for-sexual-harassment-and-assault
Me Too movement. Wikipedia. Accessed June 10, 2018.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me_Too_movement
Hi Michelle, the topic of challenges women face in the workplace could not have been more perfect than the way you described it. This episode was personally the most frustrating one I’ve watched. The way Bok-ryul refused to take responsibility for his inappropriate behaviour , and instead blamed it solely on the women is infuriating. To know that not only in South Korean society, but in other places where men behave like this is intolerable and it goes against humanitarian rights. I certainly agree that we have to address this issue. What South Koreans can do to improve the treatment of women in the workplace is to provide a gender-neutral workplace. By that I mean to encourage an environment where you treat each staff as a person, and not as a gender. This may be difficult as men and women have preferences to how they want to be treated based on their sex, but it’s essentially about being professional. Protests such as the #metoo are very effective, as long as people understand the message that the point of this movement is to be treated as equals and to not be given special priveleges. Otherwise, some men may find it unappealing to give more rights to women than to men. I find that consequences for work place sexua harassment should be heavier than the ones given in the show, such as resignation from their current promotion and possibly heavier fines and work place suspension. They should also have their profile recorded on the company’s list of sexual offenders so the offender may feel guilted by their immoral actions. Of course, there is always a risk that the women may take advantage of the punishment, but I rather seek retributive justice than have the men get away with it. This is a sensitive topic to talk about, so in response to the third question, I feel like the issue of women going on maternity leave has left their co-workers feeling more weight on theri shoulders since they have to do their work. If the one on maternity leave will heavily affect other people’s work, the company should compensate the workers more. At the end of the day, women who choose to have a baby should not be burdened by the pressures of their working life. They already go through enough stress keeping the baby healthy and alive. Overall, this episode was very intense and I am glad you brought up this issue.
1) To improve the treatment of women, the first thing to do is to allow a unified club that represents women. This union will uphold the working condition of women according to company standards. The company must have standards of how to treat people in general in their company policies. Now, some companies may decide that hiring women may be too bothersome in which this can be avoided by having a government rule that a workplace must maintain a set gender equality unless there are no female applicants. Therefore, the way to improve the treatment of women is to set a union with the company having good equality policies.
2) The consequences for work place sexual harassment should be viewed through the legal system. If the harassment is severe, jail time may be served. If the victim does not want to escalate the harassment claim, an internal punishment can be given to the offender such as a pay cut or unpaid suspension.
3) The government and the company must have policies that ensure a fair contrast between the number of men and women in a working environment. This policy is important because a company can give many excuses on why they will not hire women with many of the excuses being illegitimate. Also, when a woman is pregnant, they should not lose their job due to this fact. If their job can be done through the internet, they should be allowed to work at home during their pregnancy.
Thanks Michelle for the post explaining the #metoo movement. I believe South Korean workplaces can change, only if they take sexual harassment and workplace discrimination reports seriously. I believe many harassers are not properly reprimanded and held accountable for their behaviour. Although Mr. Ma was punished once, no one has been keeping him accountable after the first report. He is left to freely degrade women around his colleagues and no one does anything as they are in fear of his place in the power hierarchy. Regular training should be conducted for people recognize harassment and discrimination and HR should make sure complaints are taken seriously.
Depending on the severity of work place sexual harassment, trained professionals like the HR division should determine punishment of those in the wrong. They should keep track of the accused and regularly check in with their coworkers of their changes or progress. With an easier way to report harassment and with complaints taken seriously, there are less chances of lawsuits and defamation against the company.
It is difficult for women to stay working women after having children as women are expected to take the upmost care of their children. It is best for children to have a parent caring for them at home, so like western society, if the mother is making more money, she should go work and the father take care of the children. If the woman is working while pregnant, the company and or government should give her the freedom to work until she wants to stop, so there need to be solid reinforcement of rules and regulations so there is no unfair firing and discrimination of pregnant women in the workplace.
Hi Michelle, thanks for explaining the background of the #metoo movement. We also mentioned this problem a lot in class about the gender equality. Sexual harassment is revealed in episode 5 and bring us lots of thinking about female’s status in a workplace. I feel mad when I see these male high-ups treat women as a low-level community and feel comforting to see the women in a company come together and fight for this sexual harassment. The standard of sexual harassment is really important to differentiate joke and sexually harass. Don‘t be cowardly and let them know the consequence is significant. Woman getting pregnant is a matter which cannot be omitted. Asian female has vulnerable body compared to males and should be treated nicely rather than barbed words and mock. Respect women in the workplace as respect our mom.
Hi Michelle,
I really appreciate you addressing the gender inequalities in this episode. Like Jordan, I also found this episode to be incredibly frustrating when Dpt. Head Ma made offensive remarks to the women working at the company. Within those scenes in the episode, it reflects how some men in Korea are so close-minded and ignorant about working women receiving treatment at work, no matter their work ethic.
To answer your questions:
1) For South Koreans to improve on the issue of treatment towards women in the workplace is changing their perceptions or stereotypes about women’s roles and expectations, as well as understanding or emphasizing women’s roles. As both Jordan and Martin pointed out in their posts, creating a gender-neutral space and some kind of female/women group that represents the voices of the women working in South Korea would be beneficial to create awareness about this issue.
This episode made me reflect on the reality tv show in South Korea: “The Return of Superman,” which is a childrearing program that supposedly teaches parents how to care for their children, etc. The program allows women, or the children’s mothers take a break for the weekend, while the dad stays home and looks after them. I think the concept of the show is interesting, which allows for working fathers to understand the roles of the mothers who takes care their kids. In this sense, I think it is important for men to understand what women have to go through to really get at the root of this issue.
2) The consequences for workplace sexual harassment should be more than just a hand-written letter of apology to be sent to HR as highlighted in the episode. Instead, have something heavily enforced within the management, or the company, such as having the offense be recorded on their work record for reference to future companies to indicate this person has had previous encounters to commit such crimes. However, just having a written record is not enough for punishment to instill the notion of committing sexual harassment when someone is being threatened as well. Personally I think that it comes down to the basics, treating everyone with respect within the workplace professionally. As mentioned in class about more reports being sent to the police on sexual harassment cases, but no sense of action is taken; indicates that the training or management on responding to these cases needs to be improved to prevent anyone getting injured for the safety of women in public.
3) It is unfortunate that society doesn’t recognize the conditions of paternal leave, and the efforts and measures women have to take, to take care of their children. Working men should also be held accountable to care for their children as well, and not just dump all the the responsibility towards the mother. Work-life balance is not easy to manage when you are busy taking of children and also be the ‘good’ parent and a ‘good’ worker. Better agreements should be set in the sent in the contract from the companies (as well as better programs offered by the government) to hire women, while recognizing and supporting them while on ‘paternal leave’ as a relevant time to spend time with the family before going back to work (i.e. working at home). Women who devote their time to childrearing rather than working, takes sacrifice, and puts them at a disadvantage when they want to go back to the workforce and contribute to society to support the family, and should not be the excuse that companies cannot find alternatives.
What can South Koreans do to improve the treatment of women in the workplace? What can women do to help?
We should raise awareness about sexual harassment. Some Koreans still think that it’s ok to simply touch or pet someone on the back literally. However, they must be informed that this is not acceptable. Also, for women we must let them know that it is ok to report harassment. We must ensure that all victims would be compensated and that they would not suffer any negative consequences after reporting such incident.
What should be the consequences for work place sexual harassment? Who should decide?
I think that ones who are doing the harassing should be fired without question. However, investigation regarding such incidents should be conducted very carefully as there are always people who are willing to take advantage of rules and laws.
Woman getting pregnant was a matter that created more animosity towards working women. What can South Korea do to put less pressure on women to choose between being a career and having a family (instead of doing both)?
I think that Korean government are to ensure women that pregnancy would not interfere with women’s career. for example, supporting children’s financial needs would be great while making more kindergartens to take care of the children of the women who work would be great as well.