hankyoreh

"The situation is hopeless," said Jang Ok-sun, who visited the National Human Rights Commission in central Seoul on March 20 to seek help over her recent job loss.

The 42-year-old woman had been a caddie at a suburban country club before she was "retired" in January when she turned 42.

Jang, a mother of four, is still healthy and has to work to support her family. She has worked at the club for the past seven years and does not know what she can do after being forcibly retired from her job.

"I don’t understand why I should have to retire, when I can still work," she said.

Jang’s is not an isolated case. In South Korea, caddies, who are almost always female, are forced to quit their jobs early because customers do not like "old" caddies on the course.

According to a 2005 survey on 23 country clubs in Gyeonggi Province by a committee of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, the average retirement age for caddies at seven golf clubs ranged from 37 to 45. The remaining golf clubs did not have age regulations, but caddies woking there also reportedly faced mounting pressure to quit after they turned 40.

The golf club where Jang used to work set the retirement age for its caddies at 42. "Among other things, physical fitness is important for caddies," an official of the club said. "It is not unusual that caddies quit their job earlier [due to customers not preferring aged caddies]."

Labor activists argue that such an early retirement practice is unacceptable, especially at a time when the government is moving to deal with the employment needs of an aging population. Activists have called the screening out of caddies beyond a certain age tantamount to treating these women as no more than "sex objects."

The National Human Rights Commission said that it has not conducted sufficient field surveys, but would make a decision on the case in the near future.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]