Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-wpx69 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-17T07:30:41.356Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sisters Organising for Themselves: An Exploration of Women-Only Unions in Japan and South Korea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Kaye Broadbent
Kaye Broadbent*
Affiliation:
School of Industrial Relations, Griffith University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

As early as the 1890s women in a diverse range of countries organised their own unions, some of which continue to the present. Almost a century later, women-only unions have been (re)-created in Japan and South Korea. Was this coincidence or a union organising strategy development in North Asia? What does the existence, and the contemporary formation, of women-only unions in Japan and South Korea mean? This preliminary study seeks to explore women-only unions and highlights women actively creating their own organisations in order to improve working conditions and provide women with a voice separate from the existing ‘malestream’ union movement which has largely ignored their concerns.

Type
Symposium on Alternative Ways of Organising: Asian Labour’s Response to the ‘New’ Globalisation
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , June 2003 , pp. 32 - 48
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

I would like to acknowledge the (former) Centre for Research on Employment and Work, Griffith University for awarding me a research grant to conduct this study.

References

Australian Trade Union Archives [Online] Available: http://www.atua.org.au/biogs/ALE1590b.htm; accessed September 10, 2002].Google Scholar
Ayusawa, I. (1966) A History of Labor in Modern Japan, East-West Centre Press, Honolulu.Google Scholar
Baker, P. (1993) ‘Reflections on life stories: Women’s bank union activism’, in Briskin, L. and McDermott, P. (Eds) Women Challenging Unions, University of Toronto Press, Toronto.Google Scholar
Bamber, G. and Lansbury, R. (Eds) (1998) International and Comparative Employment Relations, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.Google Scholar
Bamber, G. and Davis, E. (1999) ‘Industrial and employment relations’, in Henningham, J. (Ed) Institutions in Australian Society, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, third edition.Google Scholar
Briskin, L. (1993) ‘Union women and separate organising’, in Briskin, L. and McDermott, P. (Eds) Women Challenging Unions, University of Toronto Press, Toronto.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broadbent, K. (2003) Women’s Employment in Japan: The Experience of Part-time Workers, Routledge Curzon Press, Lonon.Google Scholar
Burton, C. (1991) The Promise and the Price: The Struggle for Equal Opportunity in Women’s Employment, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.Google Scholar
Chaison, G., Andiappan, N. (1989) ‘An analysis of the barriers to women becoming local union officers’, Journal of Labour Research, 10 (2).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cockburn, C. (1991) In the Way of Women: Men’s Resistance to Sex Equality in Organizations, Macmillan, Lonon.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deery, S., Plowman, D., Walsh, J., Brown, M. (2001) Industrial Relations: A Contemporary Analysis, McGraw-Hill, Melbourne.Google Scholar
Ellem, B. (1989) In Women’s Hands: A History of Clothing Trades Unionism in Australia, University of NSW Press, Kensington.Google Scholar
Elton, J. (1997) ‘Making democratic unions: From policy to practice’ in Pocock, B. (Ed) Strife: Sex and Politics in Labour Unions, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.Google Scholar
Foged, B. , Otte, H. and Olsen, A. (1984) ‘Denmark’ in Cook, Alice , Lorwin, Val and Kaplan Daniels, Arlene (Eds) Women and Trade Unions in Eleven Industrialized Countries, Temple University Press, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Forrest, A. (2000) ‘What do women want from union representation?’, Hecate, 26 (2).Google Scholar
Franzway, S. (2000) ‘Sisters and sisters? Labour movements and women’s movements in (English) Canada and Australia’, Hecate, 26 (2).Google Scholar
Franzway, S. (2001) Sexual Politics and Greedy Institutions, Pluto Press, Sydney.Google Scholar
Hiroyuki, Fujimura (1998) ‘The future of trade unions in Japan’, Japan Labour Bulletin, 37 (7) July, [Online] Available: http://www.jil.go.jp [accessed on August 2000].Google Scholar
Funabashi, N, Shibata, M, Yano, H, Yamaguchi, K (1982) ‘Patotaimu rōdō no jitsujo to mondaiten (zadankai), Nihon Rōdō Kyōkai Zasshi, 24 (11).Google Scholar
Hallock, M. (1997) ‘Organising and representing women: Lessons from the United States’, in Pocock, B. (Ed) Strife: Sex and Politics in Labour Unions, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.Google Scholar
Hargreaves, K. (1982) Women at Work, Penguin, Sydney.Google Scholar
Holter, H. and Sorenson, B. (1984) ‘Norway’ in Cook, Alice , Lorwin, Val and Kaplan Daniels, Arlene (Eds) Women and Trade Unions in Eleven Industrialized Countries, Temple University Press, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
International Industrial Relations Association (2000) Global Intergration and Challenges for Industrial Relations and Human Resource Management in the Twenty-first Century, 12th World Congress, Tokyo, Vol. 6.Google Scholar
Josei Union Tokyo (2002) Proposals for 8th Annual General Meeting, Josei Union Tokyo.Google Scholar
Kvindeligt Arbejderforbund I Danmark (KAD) Women Workers’ Union in Denmark, [Online] Available: http://www.denmarkemb.org/labor/lab18.htm [accessed on August 2001]Google Scholar
Kawanishi, H. (1992) Enterprise Unionism in Japan, Kegan Paul, Lonon.Google Scholar
Kim, Seung-Kyung (1997) Class Struggle or Family Struggle? The Lives of Women Factory Workers in South Korea, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, D.S. (1984) ‘Ireland’, in Cook, Alice , Lorwin, Val and Kaplan Daniels, Arlene (Eds) Women and Trade Unions in Eleven Industrialized Countries, Temple University Press, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Koo, H. (2001) Korean Workers: The Culture and Politics of Class Formation, Cornell University Press, Ithaca.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Korean Womens’ Trade Union [On-line], Available: http://kwunion.jinbo.net/eng/index.html [accessed August 2001]Google Scholar
Korean Working Womens’ Association United [On-line], Available: http://www.kwwnet.org/english/kwwau/index.html [Accessed August 2001]Google Scholar
Rōdōshō, Kosei (2001) Josei Rodo Hakusho, Tokyo.Google Scholar
Mackie, V. (1997) Creating Socialist Women in Japan: Gender, Labour and Activism, 1900–1937, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mann, M. , Ledwith, S. and Colgan, F. (1997) ‘Women’s self-organising and union democracy in the UK: Proportionality and fair representation in UNISON’ in Pocock, B. (Ed) Strife: Sex and Politics in Labour Unions, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.Google Scholar
Minns, J., Fieldes, D. (2001) ‘“One huge voice of assertion”: women workers and the foundation of independent trade unionism in South Korea’, paper presented at the Gender, Work and Organisation conference, Keele University, June.Google Scholar
Murray, J. (2000) ‘The ILO’s on-line conference on organized labour in the 21st century’ Available: http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inst/papers/2000/dp125/index.htm [Accessed December 2000]Google Scholar
Onna Rōdō Kumiai (Kansai) (1997) Kessei Jūshūnen, Onna Rōdō Kumiai (Kansai), Osaka.Google Scholar
Ōsawa, M. (1995) ‘Nihongata fukushi kokka’, in Hideo, Totsuka and Shigeyoshi, Tokunaga (Eds) Gendai Nihon no Rōdō Mondai, Minerva Shobo, Tokyo.Google Scholar
Park, Young-Bum and Leggett, C. (1998) ‘Employment relations in the republic of Korea’ in Bamber, G. and Lansbury, R. (Eds) International and Comparative Employment Relations, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.Google Scholar
Peetz, David (1998) Unions in a Contrary World, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pocock, B. (1997) Strife: Sex and Politics in Labour Unions, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.Google Scholar
Pocock, Barbara and Claire, Thomson (1997) ‘Moving on from masculinity? Australian unions’ industrial agenda’, in Pocock, B. (Ed) Strife: Sex and Politics in Labour Unions, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.Google Scholar
Pocock, B. (2002) Response to posting on industrial relations email list. Rengō, International Division (2002) We 2002–2003: This is Rengō, Institute of Labor Education and Culture, Tokyo.Google Scholar
Sievers, S. (1983) Flowers in Salt: The Beginnings of Feminist Consciousness in Modern Japan, Stanford University Press, Stanford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soldon, N. (1985) The World of Women’s Trade Unionsim: Comparative Historical Essays, Greenwood Press, Connecticut.Google Scholar
Suzuki, Y. (1989) Josei to Rō dō Sōgi, Renga Shōbo, Tokyo.Google Scholar
Suzuki, Y. (1991) Josei to RodoKumiai, Renga Shōbo, Tokyo.Google Scholar
Takashima, Junko (1997) ‘Kumiai yakuin ni josei o fuyasu’ Forum: Josei to Rōdō 21, 5 (20).Google Scholar
Takenaka, E. (1991) Shin Joshi Rōdō Ron, Yuhikaku, Tokyo.Google Scholar
Trebilcock, A. (1991) ‘Strategies for strengthening women’s participation in trade union leadership’, International Labour Review, 130 (4).Google Scholar
Tshoaedi, M. (2002) ‘Women in the labour movement: Perceptions of gender democracy in South African trade unions’ in Colgan, F. and Ledwith, S. (Eds) Gender, Diversity and Trade Unions: International Perspectives, Routledge, Lonon.Google Scholar
Tsurumi, E. P. (1990) Factory Girls, Princeton University Press, Princeton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turner, Christena (1995) Japanese Workers in Protest, University of California Press, Berkeley.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
International Labour Organisation [Online], Available: www.ilo.org.public.english/employment/gems/eeo/law/korea.htm [Accessed June 2003].Google Scholar
Yi, A. (1993) Women and the Grassroots Labour Movement in South Korea, Unpublished Masters thesis, University of Sydney.Google Scholar