Even in the face of violence and sexual harassment, “Users First” just endure it··· Why are those who care not cared for - 경향신문

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Care workers hold a roundtable at Kyunghyang Shinmun headquarters on the 22nd to testify about the reality of workplace harassment. 2026.10.22 Seong Dong-hun, reporter

Everyone needs care at some point in life. While we are born and grow, and in the moments we fall ill and grow old, the care of others sustains our lives and keeps society going.

As we enter a super-aged society, care has become the state’s ‘essential labor’, yet our society does not care for those who care. Under the demand to care for the ‘socially vulnerable’, the rights of care workers are often pushed aside. “At that moment I had only two choices. Either respond and be accused of elder abuse, or become a victim of sexual assault.” Lee Eun-bok, a care worker in her ninth year, described the moment she was groped by the patient she was caring for this way.

A gendered labor structure regards care not as work requiring expertise and skill, but as a realm of women’s devotion and service, binding their labor to low wages and precarious employment. A national research institute has even projected that in 20 years the country will be short 990,000 care workers, yet instead of strengthening public responsibility, the ‘outsourcing of care’ to the private sector is reducing quality care jobs.

The numbers bear this out. Recent Ministry of Data and Statistics Economically Active Population Survey data show that three out of four of the additional non-regular workers since 2019 are employed in health and social welfare services that deliver care. With aging-driven demand, care jobs increase every year, but 74% of the jobs added over the past seven years have been non-regular. The average monthly wage of the roughly 700,000 care workers was 1.273 million won last year.

To mark the United Nations-designated ‘World Care Day’ (October 29) in 2023, the Kyunghyang Shinmun, together with the Public Transport Workers’ Union, listened to the voices of those working on the front lines of care. Six frontline workers across five occupationscare worker, caregiver, special education teaching assistant, senior life support worker, and social workergathered to discuss the reality of ‘workplace bullying’ that care workers face. The roundtable, moderated by Park Kyung-deuk, head of the Medical Solidarity Headquarters, was held on the 22nd at Kyunghyang Shinmun in Jung-gu, Seoul.

-Let us begin by sharing cases of workplace harassment you or those around you have experienced.

Lee Eun-bok (care worker) = I am a care worker in my ninth year working at a facility. Many of the older adults where I work have conditions such as dementia, and even when we are hit or sexually assaulted, it is hard to raise an issue. Rather, when you do raise one, you are blamed. For older adults with limited mobility, we must change their position every two hours to prevent bedsores. Because I had to support the client’s body with both hands, I was defenseless, and in that moment I was groped. There was a wall behind me, so I could not flee; and if I let go of the person I was holding, they could fall, so I could not let go either. The shame and fear were worse than the pain. If you say you were sexually harassed by a frail older person who cannot move on their own, often neither the family nor the facility believes you. When I told the facility, they said to check the CCTV, and although I submitted a medical certificate, they told me to bring a tertiary hospital’s certificate to take paid leave. I was mentally distressed and went to psychiatric clinics several times.

Han Young-ran (caregiver) = Working as a caregiver, I have seen many cases of sexual harassment and assault by male patients. Some patients say, when a caregiver rests on a cot under the bed, ‘Come up to my bed and sleep with me.’ Others say, if a caregiver dozes off briefly, ‘I pay you 24 hours a day, so do not sleep.’ How can you tell a human being not to sleep. Because caregivers contract one-on-one with patients, even if we are injured or hit while caring, we cannot receive the hospital’s protection or workers’ compensation. We are, literally, ‘ghost workers’.

Yoo Seung-hyun (senior life support worker) = We visit clients’ homes to work, and it is commonplace to be told to watch pornographic videos together, or to be asked to ‘let me touch you once.’ What is even more frightening is that we must provide home care with no information at all about the client. We are given no prior information about whether a client has a record related to sex crimes, or what infectious diseases they may have, yet we must perform home visits.

Jeong Yu-kyung (special education teaching assistant) = Let me first show you a photo. It is a photo of a special education teaching assistant whose arm was bitten so badly by a student that a large piece of flesh was torn off. In special education settings, being bitten or injured like this happens often, but it is hard to question the behavior of a student with disabilities or ask the guardian to resolve it. Parents are sensitive to even the smallest scratch on their child, yet when we are hit or injured, it is pushed aside. There was even a case where getting scratched on the back of the neck while stopping a child from running out onto the road beyond the school led to a child abuse report. A colleague who suffered a severe arm injury needed a skin graft, but because the parent took no responsibility, they had to pay several million won out of pocket. The injury was recognized as work-related, but the skin graft was not covered, so they received no support.

-Why is it difficult to raise issues even when your rights are violated?

Yoo Seung-hyun = I was sexually harassed by a client, and when I raised the issue, the social worker in charge said, “User protection takes precedence.” In particular, fear of contract termination makes it hard to speak up. We sign one-year contracts with entrustment agencies. These agencies try not to renew with people who file complaints and voice dissatisfaction. There are far too many unfair cases of non-renewal, and because we must watch our step, we cannot speak up even when there is a problem.

Lee Eun-bok = The hardest part is that what comes back when you raise an issue is blame. Perhaps it is because care recipients are socially vulnerable, but so are we. When we say an older adult harassed us, families do not believe us and even when CCTV confirms it, the response is, ‘Is this not something you should naturally endure?’

Jeong Yu-kyung = One mother said to me, “You have a job thanks to my child, so do it properly.” In the past, at a special education forum, the union described the educational environment as ‘dangerous’, and parents demanded a public apology. They told us to publish a public apology in the five major daily newspapers. We face danger countless times, yet ‘danger’ is a word not permitted to us. In the local government where I work, a few years ago they created a program to subsidize psychological counseling fees. When the first notice went out, I heard it closed within 30 minutes. I realized there were truly many people in pain.

Kim Ji-seon (alias, social worker) = I work at a social welfare foundation for persons with disabilities. Quite a number of social welfare institutions are operated as family-run enterprises of the founders, which makes them closed, and when you raise issues such as internal corruption, you can instead face disciplinary action. Because the atmosphere is so conservative, even in this day and age people are criticized for engaging in union activity.

-What institutional improvements feel most urgent on the ground?

Han Young-ran = What caregivers need most is workers’ compensation insurance. I am in my seventies, and many caregivers are themselves older while caring for others, and injuries are common when assisting with mobility. Recently, as one patient was about to fall, a caregiver who tried to catch them suffered a severe back injury. Even if we are injured while working in a hospital, we are not hospital employees and have no employer, so we cannot work and must shoulder treatment costs personally. I hope the state will step in so caregivers can enroll in workers’ compensation insurance.

Lee Eun-bok = The National Health Insurance Service frequently issues directives to care workers: how many times a week to bathe a client, to weigh them every month, and so onvery detailed instructions regarding older users. But when we are harmed on the job, there seem to be few effective guidelines to protect frontline workers so that we can obtain relief. Education for users and family members is also needed. I wish there were at least some basic education to ensure respect for the human rights of care workers. Hospitals have a kind of penalty system that allows them to refuse patients who cause disturbances in emergency rooms; I wish care facilities had something similar. Without such protections, are we not just being told to endure everything as individuals.

Jeong Yu-kyung = Special education teaching assistants also frequently face conflicts with our colleagues, special education teachers. Although teachers and assistants support students together in the same classroom, in the field a hierarchical relationship often hardens in which the teacher gives orders and the assistant follows. The phrase in the Enforcement Rules of the Act on Special Education for Persons with Disabilities that says ‘assist under the teacher’s direction’ cements this power imbalance. In 2021, the law was amended to change special education teaching assistants from ‘auxiliary staff’ to ‘support staff’, but this provision still remains in the Enforcement Rules. I hope the statutes and rules will be revised to define us not as auxiliaries but as colleagues who support education.

Yoo Seung-hyun = Care work is mostly done by women, and it is socially undervalued. Pay needs to be raised, starting from just above the minimum wage. For wage earners supporting households, the pay is insufficient, yet when women do it, many seem to view it as ‘pin money for housewives’. If we are the ones who care for older adults, it is time for society to care a little for care workers too. Just as we work to safeguard the dignified later years of older adults, the dignity of those who care must also be guaranteed. Only when carers are respected will quality care be possible.