Korean Women with Disabilities and Human Rights

Womens Issues:

by Lee Ye-ja (leeyeja@shinburo.com)
Representative of Korean Differently Abled Women United

(Editor's note: DisabilityWorld accepts articles in both disability-first and person-first language. We edit or reject articles using euphemisms such as "physically challenged," "the able-disabled," "handicapable," handicapper," or message-laden spellings or typings such as "disABLED" or the word disabled with a slash through the "dis." Therefore, in this article, the author's organization is identified as "differently abled" women because it is a direct translation from the Korean, but all subsequent references have been changed to "disabled women" or "women with disabilities.")

Inroduction

In the traditionally patriarchal culture and society of Korea, disabled women go through double discrimination and suffering being women as well as disabled. Under the present circumstances, it is hard for disabled women to be responsible and healthy members of society as independent beings. The majority of disabled women are not only excluded from political, economic, social and cultural sections but also are even denied the fundamental rights of education and employment. Despite the situation, even the phrase, 'disabled women' is not familiar to the people of this society since the problems relevant to disabled women have been largely ignored. These problems have often been part of issues of women and the disabled, but compared with many other developed countries with the same problems, the special needs and sufferings of disabled women in Korea have almost been dismissed.

At this point, it would be meaningful to go over with the problems of Korea disabled women. First of all, I would like to examine the situation centered on real conditions and cases, and then the domestic and overseas history of human rights movement of disabled women, and finally, suggest alternative policies on disabled women.

The Human Rights of Disabled Women

1. The Situation of Korean disabled Women

According to a report released by our government in 1995, the figure(number) of disabled people stands at 1.02 million. Among them, the figure of disabled women amount to 470,000 and it makes up 45.7 percent of all. For the proportion of the disabled estimated by the WHO (World Health Organization), the actual number of the disabled women is presumed to be about 2 million. Accordingly, seeing that half of all disabled people in Korea are disabled women, the problems and issues pertinent to disabled women are too serious to be overlooked.

Disabled Women and Education

Disabled women have a lower level of education compared to disabled men or non-disabled women. The level of elementary education of disabled women is the lowest in comparison with men (23.3 percent), women(43.0 percent)<see chart > , and disabled men(47.8 percent). The level of higher education including college education is also low. Over 50 percent of the respondents said that the biggest reason that they didn't get public education is because they could not transport themselves to school. Next, over 30 percent of the respondents answered that they didn't even know that they had go to school. In other words, parents or guardians of disabled women gave up on their education in the first place. Others said that they could not go to school because they were either embarrassed about themselves or could not stand the teasing of other children. This survey shows that (most?) disabled women of our society are not even given a fair opportunity to receive public education, which denies them opportunities of employment. This reflects the fact that the government does not systematically support the disabled, leaving the families of the disabled alone in solving their problems.

Statistical Chart: Comparison of Levels of Education
(Unit: Percent)

(The above is based on "The Social Index of Korea" released by the Bureau of Statistics in 1995 and "The Survey on the Reality of Korean Disabled People" conducted by the Korean Health Institute in 1995.)

Classification	Disabled People female male		People female		male
below elementary school	78.6	47.8		43.0	23.3
middle-school education	9.6	17.4		20.3	17.7
high - school education	7.4	21.4		28.4	38.9
special school education	2.4	3.9		-	-
above university education	2.0	9.2		8.3	20.1
Total	100.0	100.0		100.0	100.0

Participation of Disabled Women in Economic Activities

It is common for disabled people to be discriminated and disadvantaged due to their appearance even before they are employed. The discriminations that disabled women go through are more serious than those of disabled men. The chart below shows that the percentage of the Korean population participating in economic activity is 67.1 percent whereas the percentage of disabled women participating in economic activity barely stands at 27.7 percent. In other words, the number of disabled women who participate in the economy is half that of disabled men. This exclusion of disabled women from economic activity makes it difficult for disabled women to make a living and furthermore, live as independent individuals.

Statistical Chart: the Reality of Economic Activities of Disabled Women

(Unit : Percent)

	Female		Male
Classification	Disabled	Nondisabled	Disabled	Nondisabled
Economic activities	27.7	47.9	57.7	76.4
Unemployed	34.1	1.9	24.7	2.7

(The above is based on "The Annual Returns of the Population of Economic Activities" in 1994 and "The Actual Situation of Employment of Disabled People and Economic Effect of Employment" surveyed by the Korean Health Institute in 1994.)

Marriage of Disabled Women

According to a survey conducted by the Korean Health Institute, the rate of unmarried disabled women in their twenties stands at 60.5 percent whereas the rate of unmarried nondisabled women in their twenties is 50 percent. (See the chart below) Even if they marry, disabled women often have physical, social and mental difficulties in adjusting to their married lives.

	age	single	having spouse	bereavement of spouse	divorce	total
Disabled women(1995)	20-29	60.5	37.4	2.0	0.1	100.0
	30-39	13.7	78.0	2.4	5.9	100.0

Women in whole of nation	20-29	50.7	48.9	0.2	0.2	100.0
	30-39	4.1	92.6	1.9	1.4	100.0

Statistical chart :Marriage of Disabled Women

(The following is based on "The Survey on Korean Residents" conducted by the Korean Statistics Institute in 1990 and "The Survey on the Stuation of Disabled People" by the Korean Health Institute in 1990)

As we see on the chart above, the marriage rate is lower than that of nondisabled people. In the case of a marriage between a disabled person and a non-disabled person, families of both sides oppose the marriage, regardless of which side is disabled. Opposition by the families also shown in the case of a marriage between two disabled people. In particular, when the woman is disabled and the man is not, the man's family opposes the marriage very strongly, because of fear of the influence she might have on the children, and the fact that she is not able to do household work properly.

Violence towards Disabled Women

According to a survey carried out by the Research Center for Human Rights for Disabled People, 49.5 percent of disabled women have experienced several kinds of violence. Shortly, they have experienced contempt(43.1%), verbal violence(42.8%), beating(9.5%), rape(2.5%) and confinement(0.8%) and others. Disabled women experience contempt or physical violence such as beating and rape at home and even at the facilities that are supposed to help them. Disabled women who become victims of such violence are pressured from telling anyone, and because they live in isolation from society, they do not know who and where to ask for help. According to a recent report of a joint-countermeasure committee to prevent sexual violence and to inspect the cases of sexual violence, the number of cases of sexual violence toward disabled women including mentally-ill women is increasing.

Prejudice against Disabled Women

The traditional value system and religious ideology is a big factor in causing people in Korea to have prejudiced ideas and attitudes towards disabled women. Moreover, in a society where the value of an individual is assessed on the basis of labor productivity and where the appearance of women is emphasized, bias towards disabled women can be extremely serious. In a word, disabled women are discriminated against in the areas of education, employment, marriage, are exposed to violence and furthermore, ignored completely via exclusion from this society.

Overviews of Human Rights Movement for Disabled Women

1. International Developments

Human Rights Movement Centered on the United Nations

International organizations including UN have made efforts to solve the problems concerning disabled women and to promote their status in society.

1980: The World Conference held by the UN declared the year as the International Year of Women and the subsequent ten years as the "United Nations Decade of Women", affirming that disabled women should develop their own talents and be employed.
1981: Special needs of disabled women were proposed for inclusion in the UN "Year of Disabled Persons".
1985:The UN's third World Conference on Women held at Nairobi, Kenya put light on the problems of disabled women by holding sessions on this topic and by prescribing the rights of disabled women.
1990: The UN organized an Experts Seminar on Disabled Women in collaboration with Disabled People's International at the UN office in Vienna. The resulting report identifed twenty items for policies concerning these issues and called for each nation to act on behalf of disabled women.
1995: Approximately 200 disabled women participated in the UN 4th World Conference on Women, held in Beijing . The resulting Platform for Action recognizes various needs of disabled women and asked that the legal systems guarantee their rights and increase attention to identified needs and services.
1997: In a key response to the global call for action of the Beijing Conference on Women, the International Leadership Forum for Women with Disabilities was held in June in Washington, D.C. by joint support of Rehabilitation International, WID (World Institute on Disability) and the U.S.A. government.
1998:The International Conference on the Welfare for Disabled Women was held, where discussions about how to pursue disabled women's needs and problems in a systematic manner within the country's overall development context took place.

The Declaration of Rights of SHIA

SHIA(Swedish Organization of Handicapped Aid Foundation), a Swedish organization providing technical assistance and support to disabled people's groups in developing countries, was founded in 1981. It develops and administers a variety of projects in partnership with disabled people in developing countries. SHIA divided the rights of disabled women into eight categories as follows and declared them as follows: right of access, right of choice, right of security, right to take part in political activities, right to labor, right of health, right to have a family and right to support themselves.

2. Established "Korean Disabled Women United"

It can be said that the movement for disabled women in Korea started formally in 1994 by an organization called "Those Who Unbar the Gate". Other organizations which were founded before this were groups such as the "Korean Association of Blind Women," which was founded in 1976. "Korean Disabled Women United"(abbr. KDAWU) was founded in April 1999 to help disabled women live with self respect, hope and dreams. It has 800 members in eight regions including "Those Who Unbar the Gate" and "Korean Association of Blind Women".

The "Korean Disabled Women United" is undertaking the following projects:

1. Regional Organizational Activity and Leadership Training, Conscientizational Education:
*We are holding educational seminars and lectures aiming for the improvement of the quality of life of disabled women and for the conscientization of disabled women to fight for their rights. Lectures tours are held four times a year, Leadership Development Training Courses also four times a year, and Policy Seminars two times a year. We are also leading regional organizational activities.

2. Human Rights Movement:
*We are fighting for the rights of disabled women who are sexually exploited physically abused. We also hold symposiums and open forums to inform people of the problems that disabled women face. *In particular, we are working on measures to help the lives of Ms. Kim, who is mentally handicapped, and also Ms. Yoo Soon-ja, a victim of domestic violence.

3. Releasing "The Declaration of the Rights of Disabled Women 2000":

Disabled women have the right to political, economical, social power.
Disabled women have the right to be equal.
Disabled women have the right to choose as consumers.
Disabled women have the right to use convenience facilities.
Disabled women have the right to be educated.
Disabled women have the right to be safe from all forms of violence.
Disabled women have the right to work, and also the right to be employed.
Disabled women have the right of health.
Disabled women have the right to make and live with their own families.
Disabled women have the right to live independently.

4. Making efforts to improve laws and regulations regarding the welfare of disabled women:
* We are suggesting that the item that "victims themselves have to make a criminal complaint" be abolished from the Sexual Violence Act, to protect disabled women from sexual violence

5. Joint Activities and International Exchanges:
*We are holding relationships with women's groups and disabled groups to take part in joint activities.

6. Efforts to change biased perceptions:
* We held a National Assembly for the aims of mutual understanding and a sense of solidarity to change society's biased perception of disabled women.

Issues and Challenges

Korea has made rapid progress in the economic sector, but there is still a long way to go for real change in terms of establishing the polices of disabled people and providing good facilities for them. The main task of meeting basic prerequisites for disabled women, protecting and promoting their rights and interests still lies ahead and the task would entail tackling the following issues and challenges:

1. Surveying the Situation of Disabled Women and Establishing the Policies. At first, the government must have an accurate understanding of the situation of disabled women including their problems and tasks that must be solved urgently. Next, they should prepare and implement that concern these problems and tasks.

2. Changing the Biased Perception Towards Disabled Women. A broad range of laws must be introduced to remove biased perceptions and behavior towards disabled women. In addition, government and society should hold campaigns through the mass media.

3. Providing Disabled Women with Equal Opportunity in Education. The government should give them an opportunity to get public education by preparing special funds and regulations for them.

4. Holding Vocational Education. Laws related to the employment of disabled women should be revised or enacted to activate and expand the employment of disabled women. Vocational education pertinent to disabled women must be expanded.

5. Protecting Disabled Women from Violence and Educating them How to Prevent Violence. Special organizations that specialize in violence towards defenseless disabled women should be made. The actual situation of the victims of sexual assault should be investigated first and then actions to help the victims should be made by providing shelter for them and furthermore, educating them how to prevent sexual assault. Finally, laws for punishing sexual offenders and protecting the victims of sexual assault should be accessible to all disabled women.

6. Establishing a System to Support Disabled Women While they are Pregnant, Have Babies and Use a Day-Care Center.

7. Improve Social Facilities for the Disabled so they are not kept from leading active, independent lives

8. Providing them With Social Welfare Service and Medical Services.

9. Guaranteeing Disabled Women the Rights of Access to Get all Information. The government should help disabled women by giving them opportunities to get information by letting them buy computers cheaper and being educated to handle computers.

**Suggestions**

We don't know how much effort is exactly being put into the cause of disabled women in each country, but we would like to suggest a few matters in this East-Asia Conference.

1. Women's groups of each country should examine the realities of disabled women in their society and make efforts for the rights of disabled women.

2. The governments of each country should recognize the seriousness of the problems faced by disabled women and should make efforts to protect disabled women from sexual violence and violations of human rights by improvements in the law.

3. The governments of each country should also work with each other (with other governments) for the protection of the rights of disabled women.

Closing Remarks

Disabled women need to lead the movement to change biased ideas towards disabled women and also to change the poor environment surrounding them and furthermore, to promote the quality of their lives. In conclusion, disabled women should interact and cooperate with those as well as organizations with the same interests by realizing that finding a solution to the problems relevant to disabled women is a key to solve the problems of women and disabled people. Therefore, the issues and problems related to disabled people are the tasks that our society should share and solve together.

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