The Gendered and Racialised Division in the Korean Labour Market: The Case of Migrant Workers in the Catering Sector

Based on the empirical analysis of migrant women employed in the catering sector, this paper examines the gendered and racialised division in the Korean labour market. Given limited labour protection and the flexibilisation of the migrant workforce in the labour market, South Korea has been able to reduce possible economic and social costs and, at the same time, enjoy the benefits of the significant economic contribution of migrant workers. By looking at gender relations and racial discrimination in the catering sector, and inconsistent government policies, this paper underlines that migrant women are marginalised in the labour market owing to their ‘multiple vulnerability’ as women, migrants and undocumented workers.

Julia Jiwon ShinEmail:

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Dr. Julia Jiwon Shin   is a teaching fellow in Human Geography at Keele University. She holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Warwick. Her principal research interests are in interdisciplinary and gender-sensitive approaches to the study of international migration and the transnational division of labour. Her doctoral research examined the social formation of the ‘gendered’ process of international migration by looking closely at different migratory stages of migrant women in Asia. Her research interests also cover the following areas: theories of migration; feminism; globalisation, migration and development; transnationalism; the feminisation of migration; the migrant labour market; gender, class, race and care work; social stratification and citizenship; nationalism and ethnicity; and multiculturalism.