- Overview
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This book tells us about the establishment of labor unions in the 1970s and 1980s as well as female activists who worked in schools and factories in the 1990s.
- Book Intro
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(English) I Was There: A Hot and Intense Record of the Korean Working Women
It contains a fierce record of the genealogy of women's labor. This book tells us about the establishment of labor unions in the 1980s as well as female activists who worked in schools and factories in the 1990s. It’s about time we learned the stories of our mothers, aunts, and sisters (or maybe ourselves).
The book reflects on the combat mentality used to win labor rights and defend democratic labor unions, as seen in the cases of Dongil Textile in 1978 and of YH Trading in 1979. It contains the voices of female workers who were alienated or silenced in the labor movement centered on men’s workplaces. The ten female labor activists who wrote this book learned much from each other’s stories. Although they had been in different places at key historical moments, such as Jeon Tae-il’s self-immolation in 1970, the Gwangju Democratization Movement in 1980, and the June Democracy Movement in 1987, they all faced turning points in their lives as activists. One of them went from being a factory worker to being a leader of a labor union. One of them used to enjoy life with a decent job, but now dreams of social reform.
In fact, they wrote down their stories in order to seek happiness in life. But their stories contain painful issues that shine like gems. A collection of such issues completes a timeline of the history of the labor movement from the 1980s to the present. This invaluable book serves as a genealogy for the women's labor movement. It can give anyone the strength to live on.
(French) J'étais là - un dossier chaud et féroce de femmes actives.
Les femmes étaient là lorsque la République de Corée a commencé à construire des bases industrielles et économiques avec les textiles et les électrons dans les années 1970 et 1980. Elle a survécu à la scène de la lutte en faisant des allers-retours entre le poste de police et la prison, et maintenant les filles qui étaient là se sont rassemblées ici à travers les problèmes de travail des politiques de "temps partiel" et de "soins". En mars 2019, un atelier d'écriture de guérison a débuté à l'Académie des femmes actives. C'est là qu'ont été rassemblées les histoires des filles qui se réunissaient une fois par semaine et écrivaient leur propre vie, et que toute l'histoire du mouvement ouvrier de Corée a été contenue.
- About the Author
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Working Women Academy
Working Women Academy is an educational organization for women founded in October 2004. With the vision of “a happy world where working women enjoy equality and peace,” the organization runs programs on self-development, communication and conflict resolution, leadership, organizational development, gender equality labor, and social consciousness education and research.