Human Rights Commission: "Discriminatory Questions to Female Applicants in Local Corporation Interviews... Recommendation for Recurrence Prevention"

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] The National Human Rights Commission has recommended that a local public enterprise establish measures to prevent recurrence after discriminatory questions based on gender were asked during the interview process for new employees.

On the 21st, the Human Rights Commission announced that it recommended the president of Company A to develop and implement measures such as conducting human rights education for HR personnel and responsible managers to prevent discriminatory questions unrelated to job duties.

The complainant filed a petition with the Human Rights Commission, stating that discriminatory acts occurred during the hiring interview, including being asked by an interviewer in the final interview for administrative new hires at Company A, "How would you handle the situation if women cannot perform well at work due to household duties and have to take care of childcare after marriage?"

According to the Human Rights Commission's investigation, during the interview process, one interviewer asked the complainant how she would cope with difficulties balancing company work and household duties if she got married, and required answers regarding situations where women find it hard to balance work and family due to caring for parents-in-law, husband's understanding of overtime work, childbirth, and childcare.

In response, the Human Rights Commission judged that the questions stemmed from incorrect gender role stereotypes and viewed asking only female candidates about work-family balance as problematic because it treats female applicants as having less favorable conditions than male applicants.

Furthermore, the Commission determined that discriminatory remarks during the interview have the effect of intimidating the targeted candidate compared to other applicants and cause practical disadvantages by negatively affecting interview scores, constituting discriminatory acts that violate the right to equality.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.