Tied and Trapped: Migrant Farmworkers’ Experiences of Gender-based Violence in South Korea

• In Event: Sexual Violence

Abstract

Across the globe, temporary labor migration programs use unfree labor that binds migrant workers to a specific employer and therefore prevent migrant workers from transferring jobs without their employer’s permission. This power imbalance between employer and migrant worker often contributes to migrant workers facing violent working environments. Yet little attention has been paid to how unfree labor relations shape gender-based violence. Using theoretical insights from the literature on unfree labor and gender-based violence, this paper draws on participant observation and interviews conducted in South Korea between 2018 and 2025. Findings suggest that unfree labor grants employers tremendous discretion over migrant workers and thus can effectively exacerbate gender-based violence. Unfree labor relations enable employers in the labor-short agricultural sector to effectively secure the migrant workforce by either denying migrant workers a job transfer or forcing so-called “runaway” workers to return to their workplaces. In addition, employer-tied contracts place migrant workers at heightened risks and simultaneously allow employers to avoid punishment by providing them with a job-transfer permission. In case of sexual assault, migrant survivors face a stark choice: protection from assault or deportation as punishment. This article, therefore, argues that unfree labor has become a regulatory means to intensify employers’ control over migrant workers and to prevent migrant victims from seeking justice in response to gender-based violence in South Korea.

Author

• Choon Hee Woo, University of Massachusetts-Amherst