Abstract

This article is an interview with HeoOh Young-sook, Representative of the Women Migrants Human Rights Center of Korea, about the lives and labor of migrant women, who account for 47.5% (1.17 million) of foreign residents living in Korea. Many migrant women are entering Korea for labor, marriage, and study purposes, but their basic rights are guaranteed differently due to the visa type of residence requirements. In particular, workers who enter the country under the Employment Permit System (E-9) can be protected by the Labor Standards Act or the Labor Relations Act by applying the 「Act on Foreign Employment」 . However, since the employment permit system was designed from the beginning in a way that does not recognize the right to family composition to prevent migrant workers from settling down, there are no protective measures for the Sexual and reproductive health and rights, such as pregnancy and childbirth. In addition, due to strong legal marriage standards and normal family ideology, the Korean government does not apply a universal birth registration system for migrants, so if a female migrant worker or an international student gives birth, there is a problem that they have to go through complex birth registration procedures. In the field of caring labor, many Korean Chinese women who entered the country under the special employment permit system (visiting employment visa H-2), but poor working conditions and discrimination against caring labor continue. In order to respect the values of caring labor and caring workers, it is necessary to seek a method such as caring insurance as a public social system. Overall, since Korea's migrant women's policy is biased toward an instrumental perspective to secure the labor force and resolve the population crisis, more systems should be prepared to allow them to enjoy the basic rights of citizens and settle in a stable manner.