49% of Office Workers Say "Korean Society Is Not Safe for Women and Sexual Minorities"

Female Respondents Report Anxiety Levels 20 Percentage Points Higher Than Men
Low Trust in Government and Company Protection Systems

About one in two office workers nationwide feel that Korean society is not safe for socially disadvantaged groups, such as women and sexual minorities.

Office workers are heading to work at the Sejongno Intersection in Jongno-gu, Seoul.

According to a survey commissioned by the civic group Workplace Gapjil 119 and conducted by the polling agency Global Research from February 2 to 8 of last month among 1,000 office workers aged 19 or older across the country, 49.2% of respondents said that socially disadvantaged groups are not safe.

The results revealed a marked difference in perception by gender. While 60% of female respondents answered that society is unsafe, only 39.1% of male respondents held the same view, showing a 20.9 percentage point gap. In particular, 13% of women said it is "not safe at all," while 14.5% of men answered that it is "very safe," highlighting the contrast.

Trust in workplace sexual crime protection systems was also low. 51.4% of respondents said, "I don't think my company will protect me from sexual crimes," and 53.9% said, "I don't think the government will protect me." Although the current Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act imposes investigation and victim protection obligations on employers, the actual impact in the workplace appears minimal.

There were also very few actual cases of punishment. According to data submitted by the office of Hongbae Park, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, to the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the prosecution referral rate for workplace sexual harassment reports over the past three years was only 0.3% in 2023 and 2024, and 0.2% in 2025. The rate of imposing fines also showed a yearly decrease, from 5.1% in 2023 to 3.1% in 2025.

Workplace Gapjil 119 commented on the survey results, saying, "The message that nothing changes even if you report it is continually being sent to the workplace," and emphasized, "It is urgent to revise laws and systems, enforce strict sanctions, and establish a principle of zero tolerance for gender-based violence starting from the public sector, as well as to change social awareness and culture."

Sujin Yeo, labor attorney and chairperson of the Special Committee on Gender Violence at Workplace Gapjil 119, said, "Victims of sexual harassment experience more fear of secondary harm than hope for resolution," and added, "With the increasing risks of digital sexual violence and stigma against feminists, I hope the president's attention to industrial safety will also extend to the safety of women in the workplace."

The survey was conducted online based on the ratio of employed persons in the Economically Active Population Survey, with a sampling error of ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.

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