Gyeonggi Province Industrial Accidents: Women Concentrated in Retail, Food, and Lodging; Men in Construction

[Suwon Ilbo=Park No-hun Reporter] As there are differences between women and men in the industries and types of industrial accidents occurring in Gyeonggi Province, opinions have emerged that a gender-aware perspective is necessary when establishing criteria for judging work-related accidents.

The Gyeonggi Women and Family Foundation announced on the 13th that it has published a report titled "Status and Implications of Industrial Accidents among Female Workers: Issue Analysis" containing this content.

According to the report, of 27,635 industrial accident victims in Gyeonggi Province in 2020, 5,969 were women (21.6% of the total) and 21,666 were men.

Looking at the industry ratios of industrial accidents by gender, women are concentrated in ▲retail, food, and lodging (35.4%) ▲healthcare and education, etc. (17.5%) ▲facility management and support services (13.6%) and others in that order, while men are concentrated in ▲construction (30.5%) ▲machinery, nonmetal, and metal product manufacturing (17.4%) ▲retail, food, and lodging (14.2%) and others in that order.

Regarding the occurrence patterns by gender, women experience falls (37.7%), crushing injuries (12.0%), work-related illness (10.0%) and others in that order, while men experience falls from heights (16.7%), crushing injuries (15.1%), falls (13.8%) and others in that order.

The Foundation asserted that given such significant differences in industrial accident industries and types between genders, there is a need to comprehensively review industrial accident-related laws and systems from a gender-aware perspective.

Specifically, it proposed conducting detailed gender analysis not only of cases recognized as industrial accidents but also of cases where workers filed for industrial accident compensation with the Worker's Compensation and Welfare Service but were not recognized, and suggested examining various occupational safety and health guidelines based on the Industrial Safety and Health Act from a gender-aware perspective.

Jung Hyeong-ok, Senior Research Fellow of the Foundation, said "In the process of recognizing industrial accidents, there are differences in working environments depending on gender, but the criteria for determining work-related accidents are centered on the male body and accidents that can occur in male-centered industries. In a gender-segregated labor market, accidents experienced by women are more difficult to recognize as work-related accidents. There is a need for specific analysis of what types of accidents female workers file for industrial accident compensation and why they fail to receive recognition as work-related accidents," he said.