Raising Queer Workers' Rights in South Korea

Transgender people are treated unfairly at the workplace due to gender identity but also the unstable working environment and gender-discriminatory structure of Korean society itself negatively affect the health status of transgender people.

In the previous event, we looked into the general working environment and labor rights of sexual and gender minority people in Korea. In this event, we listened to the working experiences in Korean society as transgender, looked at the difficulties of trans workers, and talked about what kind of changes in terms of structures and environments of the workplace is needed to work with pride as transgender.

In this event, an activist/researcher who studies the health status of transgender people presented the overall issues of labor and health rights of transgender people, and a transgender member of the organization presented the working condition of transgender workers

•  What we discussed

            - Transgender people’s health status and working environment in Korean Society

           - Transgender people’s experiences of discrimination and unequal treatment in the workplace due to the gender identity/expression

          - Difficulties in changing gender markers in official documents and following hardships of transgender people in getting jobs and doing economic activities

           - Economic hardship and poverty of transgender people due to the obstacles in the job application, unfair treatment and discrimination in the workplace, lack of medical coverage for medical transition

          - What is needed for transgender workers: raising awareness of colleagues and transgender-inclusive workplace policies and benefits