論文

Caring Relations: a care ethics
perspective on the activism of women in
non-regular employment in Japan andSouth Korea through documentary films
Hiu Tung YOW

The persistent prevalence of women in non-regular employment has long
attracted much scholarly interest in its economic and gender implications.
Existing researches have approached this phenomenon on a macrostructuraland institutional level. Marxist feminists observed a collaboration between
patriarchy and the rise of neo-liberalism in Japan (Ueno, 2017). Takanaka Emiko,a prominant figure in post-war Japanese women’s labour research, criticisedclasssical Marxist economist for neglecting the role of reproduction in thecapitalist model of production and, further argued the intertwined working
between patriarchy and capitalism in creating a wage gap based essentially ona gendered job segregation (Takenaka, 1992; Forum labour social policy gender;
2020; Ida; 2021). Others have looked into the effectiveness of legislative efforts,
notably the 1985 landmark Equal Employment Opportunity Law (Kamiya, 1995;
Shibata, 2007) and recent government policies, in particular Prime Minister
Abe’s “womenomics” directive (Schieder, 2014; Dalton, 2017).
These macrostructures are indeed paramount in creating this prevalence of
women in non-regular employment. However, the operation and reproduction of
the structure depend, not only on the preconditions and discipling set by thesemacro forces and institutions, but also on individual agents, who form andinhabit the structure. Living within the structure, individuals are inevitably
influenced by the surrounding structural norms. Yet, individuals should not be
conceived as mere passive followers of structural norms. Since structural norms
are temporarily embodied in individuals, individual agents carry the capacity ofshaping the structure. Although individuals, accustomed to social norms, have astrong tendency to unconsciously practice the reproduction of the status quo, in
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文rare instances, could act differently to make gradual changes to the existing
structure (Bourdieu, 1977). Such potential of the individual in shaping thestructure, is important yet insufficiently recognised in existing literature, which
tended to give weight to macrostructures. This calls for a need to apply aperspective from the individuals to understand how they conceive the structure,
their predicament and their actions, but literature that inquired from theperspective of the individuals in non-regular employment remains little (Fu,2011; Broadbent, 2009).
Contrary to the largely silent and compliant perception of female non-regular
workers, many women found resourceful ways to cope with the precariousness
of non-regular employment. Some women in non-regular employment in Japanand South Korea have organised themselves, despite exclusion from conventional
entreprise-based unions, dominated by male regular workers. With their own
union, women took collective bargaining, strikes and legal actions to strike forbetter working conditions, as well as the abolishment of the disparity between
regular and non-regular workers who work the same job. While academic
researchers have given little attention to the voice of women on how they viewand negotiate with their non-regular employment, these progressive efforts by
women were well-documented by journalists and documentary filmmakers.

Camera, Care and Society
In the past decade, a recent academic trend uses multimedia, such as
television series, films and documentaries, as a medium to analyse various
socia l phenomena wit h a n et h ics of ca re. Telev ision dra ma , f ilms a nd
documentaries entertain us and more. Either imagined or non-fictional
narratives, are reflective of, to varying degree, us and the society we inhabit.
They inform and call upon us to reflect philosophically on dilemmas that we
identified in our daily lives (Kupfer, 2012). Furthermore, from fictional television
drama and films to reality-based documentary, camera captures a rich resourceof visua l a nd audio footage of people’s voices , physica l expression a ndinteractions with others in specific context. Such characteristic serves ideally tocare ethics’ emphasis on human interconnectedness and contextual specificity.
This offers a unique opportunity for scholars to explore the process of how
people act and react in relations to other people and circumstances around192

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Caring Relations: a care ethics perspective on the activism of women in non-regular employment in Japan and South Korea through documentary films

them. As a result, it captures a relational dimension of human actions, for care
et h ic s t o i l lu st r at e a nd a n a ly s e t he pr a c t ic e a nd del iver y of c a re i ncontextualised scenarios.
One way of using visual media with care ethics is to analyse the content
regarding the portrayal of care. Scholars had looked into television and films on
how care is performed by characters (Amy-Chinn, 2008), represented in various
forms of media in respect of their historical background (Holdsworth, A., Lury,
K., & Tweed, 2020) and how different scales of care for self, family, friends,
community and nation, were conveyed to the audience in popular movies(Kupfer, 2012). In analysing televsion series, Laugier (2020) explored theformation of various relationships of care, between the production crew and theaudience, the audience and the drama, characters and messages of the show,among the audience who are bonded together by a shared adoration for theshow, as well as how influential messages of television drama could transcend
into powerful symbols in real-life social movements.
Another dimension of ethics of care lies in media production. Production
choices of what, who and how to feature in television drama and movies are,themselves, questions of care. Furthermore, documentary films, as framed
narratives involving actual events and real people, carries an additional dilemmaof care in comparison to fictional drama and films. Production choices such as,deciding the subject of film before and during the filming process, the methodof filming and engaging documentary participants, as well as the postproduction editing, release, ownership and the impact of the film, are filled withethical considerations involving practical power dynamics between the director
and documentary participants (Nash, 2012; Walukiewicz, 2018).
This article seeks to study the activism of women in non-regular employment
in Japan and South Korea captured through the lens of documentary films, withan ethics of care. Documentaries offer a distinctive and detailed insight into theinteractions among the women and with different parties in work and activism.
Focusing on people’s emotions, voices and interactions with others, care ethics
would inquire the prevalence of women in non-regular employment from thewomen’s perspective.
The article explores how women formed various caring relations in theirexperience in non-regular work and activism, and analyses how these rays ofcaring relations helped women to derive meanings and values in their struggle
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文with the precariousness of non-regular work, as well as the risks and challenges
in activism. It hopes to analyse women’s experiences of taking collective action
as a union, in order to explore a more comprehensive understanding on themeaning of work and activism, and the ways women found empowerment
among themselves through a sisterhood based on collective strength and sharedresources (Hooks, 1983).

Research Methodology
This article analysed two documentaries, Metro Ladies Blues and Weabak, on
the union activism of women, who worked as non-regular workers in metro
shops in Tokyo, Japan and in supermarkets in Seoul, South Korea. Among thediverse ways women responded to the structures of gender and non-regular
work, both documentaries presented how these women in non-regular work
reacted through union activism.
Metro Ladies Blues, followed the activism of four mid-aged women working
as shopkeepers at small shops in Tokyo Metro stations. As non-regular workers,
these women started their activism in their 60s with no prior union experience.
The directors, Matsubara and Sasaki, followed the women’s collective bargaining
efforts and strike in March 2013 to abolish the mandatory retirement for nonregular workers, and to establish a reemployment system to allow willing nonregular workers to continue working after reaching 65. The initial documentary
release expanded into three updated additions. The directors continued to follow
the women’s latest development, as the women took legal actions and subsequentappeals against the company, on the basis of violation of the then Article 20 of
the Labour Contract Act. The law regulated the same entitlement of working
conditions to employees working at the same job responsibilities regardless ofthe duration of employment. The film also featured the women in private
settings, such as union social events, gatherings, daily lives including work,
groceries shopping and home-visits from 2013 to 2019.
Weabak, a 2009 Korean documentary directed by Kim mi-re, featured the510-day strike of women, who were previously employed at one of Korea’s major
supermarket chains, Homever Outlet. Days before the enactment of the NonRegular Workers’ Protection Bill in 2007, which mandated non-regular workers
who had worked two consecutive years to be hired as regular workers, the194

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holding company of Homever Outlet, E-land Group, dismissed without priornotice, many its non-regular workers. A majority of these workers were women
who had worked for years, as part-time workers at the registry, storage anddeli section of the supermarket. Having their livelihood depended on this parttime work, these women organised themselves in a union to launch a sleep-in
strike at the stores they worked in. For many of the married women who
participated, it was their very first time staying overnight outside since they
got married.
The director took a gender focus in the labour movment and highlighted themarginalisation of women in the workforce as non-regular workers, as well as
the specific struggle women faced at home and in public, when conducting
activism in a still deep-entrenched patriarchal South Korea and its maledominant union culture. This 510-day strike, which lasted as one of the longest
strikes in South Korean history, came to a mixed conclusion. In a deal with the
new company who acquired their previous employer, most women, except for
key union figures, were rehired, on the condition that they would not conduct
any union activities in the following three years. From the beginning of thestrike till the end, the documentary told a story of women fighting for the rightof non-regular workers, and in the process, breaking away from the traditionalfamilial role and find new space, roles, and bonding through work and activism.
Care ethics’ notions of care and caring relations were used to examine thesetwo documentaries. The analysis focused particularly on the verbal and physicalinteractions among women, between the women and their family, friends,
clients, co-workers and fellow activists in work and activism.

Care Ethics as a research lens
A common analogy compares theories to spectacle lenses that enable people
to see the world from different perspectives. Coincidentally, camera is also alens, and the way camera frames selective narratives of social issues and events
shares many similarities with academic theories.
Ethics of care is concerned with a distinctive moral reasoning based on
notions of care and empathy. Critical of the conventional ethical assumptions on
universal moral principles and the autonomous individual, care ethics draws
attention to the interconnectedness of human relations and the highly contextual
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nature of individual actions, as people make decisions in response to particularsituations balancing their own and the need of others around them.
Care ethics is often accredited to Carol Gilligan, whose 1982 book, In a
Different Voice, rebutted claims of women’s inferior morality due to their
preoccupation with intimate relation. She argued on a different, yet equivalent,
moral reasoning based on notions of care and empathy, that existed along withthe morality of justice and rights. By socially constructed gender expectations
on girls and boys, the moral reasoning of care has become more commonly
associated with women who are engendered to be more attentive to the feelingsand needs of others in their developmental stage. Such patriarchal construct has
not only resulted in the separation of the moral reasoning of care and justiceinto that of women’s and men’s morality, but the triumph of men’s morality anda fundamental devaluation of women and their gender attribute of care,empathy and connectedness with others.
Challenging the concept of the conventional masculine “right” and “justice”
orientated morality as the prototype and sole legitimate form of moral
reasoning, care ethics calls for a re-evaluation of the significance of relationalcare and recognising care an alternative but equally legitimate moral response
to our ethical and moral dilemma. Rejecting a search for universal moral
principles, care ethics approaches moral issues in a relational and contextspecific manner. Since individuals are bounded to certain belonging to a groupor community, they are fundamentally related to others. Their decisions andactions must be considered within a particular scenario involving themselves
and others. Thus, care ethics conceptualises a caring approach to morality as
people being attentive, listening and responding to the concerns and needs ofothers.
In Caring: A Feminine Approach to Ethics and Moral Education, Nodding(1984) further developed care as a common human moral orientation to which,she a rg ued, must be nurtured in our mora l development . The socia lly
constructed gender role has made it taken for granted that it was first andforemost a woman’s responsibility to care for others, while in fact, care wascapable by both men and women. Since all individuals regardless of gender havean affective response to the emotion of others and shared the experience ofbeing care for as a child, they have both the capacity and an ideal to care forthose around them. Considering care as the basics of human existence, a caring
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relationship entailed a reciprocity of care between the “one-caring” and the“cared-for”, though not necessarily always in the same manner or of symmetricweight. As the act of caring must take place in a relational context and eachcaring relationship carries its own personal and situational specificities, caremust be understood contextually rather than as a universal principle. As aresult, it is essential to pay attention to all parties’ concerns, so as to appreciate
the uniqueness of each relationship.
While it is still debatable to define care ethics purely as a moral theory, many
advocates are more inclined to consider care ethics “a mosaic of insights andvalue the way it is sensitive to contextual nuance and particular narratives
rather than making the abstract and universal claims of more familiar moral
theories” (Held, 2006). Indeed, the emphasis of the interconnected individual andthe attentiveness to the relational and contextual dimension of a particular issue
had shed light on theoretical and empirical approaches across various academic
fields, not limited to care-apparent topics such as the delivery care in theprivate household, and specialised care, such as medical health, education, andsocial work. The application of care ethics can also be seen in the societal
allocation of care responsibility in political theory (Tronto, 1993), in international
relations (Robinson, 1997), and the practising of care in our everyday lives withfamily, friends and neighbours, at work, in society, with the natural and politicalenvironment (Barnes, 2012).
Robinson (2006) asserted the importance of incorporating ethics of care inlabour studies, particularly regarding women and work in our globalised
economy. She argued a deficiency in the existing right-based approach inaddressing worker’s justice, particularly that of women workers. The narrowliberal-individualistic ontological assumption of work and workers in the rightbased framework, is gender-blind, decontextualises the nature and context ofwork, and neglects the dynamics of human relations and their relational power.
Care ethics offers a better normative framework that takes consideration of themultifaceted dimensions to a person’s life, as workers, careers, women, wives
and mothers. Focusing not on a standardised set of rights but on the fulfillmentof basic needs, care ethics can investigate the strategies devised by women tocope with the increasing burden of wage and non-wage work. Advocating
attentiveness, responsiveness, and assuming a continual responsibility of care ingovernment policy-making and corporate culture, she called on the potential of197

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文care ethics as an antidote to global neoliberalism by providing an alternative
discursive moral and policy framework to moderate the scale and intensity ofmarket value.
The relational dimension of employment and how it shapes the meaning ofwork and the experience of precariousness for low skilled and underpaid care
workers have also been explored. Stacey (2005) found a complex and often
contradicting relationship with work among the low-wage home care workers in
the United States. Despite obvious constraints, such as overwork, increased risk
and physical and emotional strain, workers also described different sources ofrewards in their narratives on work, most notably a special bond establishedfrom spending extensive time and effort caring to their clients’ needs which
they took great pride in. The reward of pride and dignity derived from theability to “dirty” work others would avoid, enabled workers to negotiate theconstraints of work and make meanings to continue this much stigmatised andless materially rewarding profession.
Similarly, Van Bochove and Zur Kleimsmide (2020) argued that the dynamics
of a c a re net work h ad a g re at ef fe ct i n m it ig at i ng t he ex p er ience of
precariousness in migrant live-in care workers in the Netherlands. A functionalcare network, which involved a variety of factors and stakeholders around themigrant worker, such as the financial situation and medical needs of the client,
relationship with client’s family, coordination with medical professionals andsocial workers, social support in host and home country, would alleviate risk of
precariousness in work.
Applying a focus on the relational dimension of human actions, people’semotions and voices in the two documentaries on the activism women in nonregular employment, care ethics offers a bottom-up approach to listen to how
women made decisions, experienced and made sense of non-regular work andactivism.

An Analysis of Women’s Voices
Women’s experience in the non-regular work
The working environment and conditions of non-regular workers at thefrontline of the retail industry were unquestionably tough, as these women in
non-regular employment in South Korea and Japan spoke a similar story of long198

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hours of physical and emotional drain. These South Korean women worked at
supermarket cashier described the physical exhaustion, such as aching legs andsore throat from standing for all day at cash registry at the supermarket, as
well as the emotional intensity of staying focused to keep the lines at the
cashier running smooth and fast, keeping a friendly smile and always saying
welcoming and farewell lines to great all guests. The women shared what
Hochschild (1983) termed “emotional labour”, which demanded a management of
their feelings and emotional expressions to meet their job requirement. The
company implemented a strict point system that publicly evaluated workers on
their compliance to customer service requirements and disciplined them fromcausal chats with co-workers, creating much psychological stress. Anothersource of emotional strain came from customers, as these women working at
cashiers were at the forefront of handling customer complaints in the event ofcompany policy change. Women often had to apologise personally on behalf ofcompany policy, giving intense emotional labour in this seemingly low-skilledjob.
The metro shop ladies in Tokyo, in a self-written parody song, also told of
their long working hours which began before dawn, when they had to commuteto the metro station where they work, so to get the shops ready for businessbefore the arrival of the first train. As women were responsible for running thestores solely, they had to carefully manage water intake to avoid toilet breaks
that would leave the stores unattended. These metro stores, where women
worked inside facing customers, were small cubicles with strong lighting
installed to showcase the merchandise such as drinks and snacks, newspapers
and magazines and cigarettes packed around the shopkeepers. Those strong
white light radiated heat made staying in such compacted space for long hours
hot and unconformable. For years, these metro ladies had to stand in these hot
cubicles for the whole day, till the union negotiated with the company toarrange chairs for workers to sit and take rest.
The inequality between non-regular workers and regular workers who
worked at the same duties with almost the same number of hours alongsideeach other was described as a discrimination based on their non-regular status.
In both cases, the disparity between non-regular and regular workers at thesame post was sizeable in terms of salary, bonus, subsidy and benefit. Regular
workers were paid a higher monthly wage with entitlement to bonus. Whereas
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non-reg ular workers were pa id a fixed hourly-wage with limited or noentitlement to bonus and other fringe benefit, and their contact were subjected
to flexible termination at the company’s discretion.
The inequality between regular and non-regular workers was material but
also psychological. Despite working at the same workplace at the same job, thefact that non-regular workers were treated less due to their employment status
had made them felt devalued and unappreciated by the company, which harmed
their dignity deeply. The Japanese metro ladies, who were completely unawareof such system at the point when hired a nd even yea rs a fter working,considered such arrangement not only to be unfair, but also felt deceived by thecompany into accepting their employment terms.
If one considered only these described subpar working environments andconditions, it seemed odd that women would even want to continue to work inthese unfavourable jobs. Nonetheless, women in the two documentaries fought
vigorously for the chance to work. The Japanese metro ladies had negotiated asa union for extending employment in order to continue to work after reaching
the retirement age of 65, while the South Korean women who were dismissedby the company before the impending non-regular worker’s law, fought at length
to retain their jobs.
A convenient answer to the question why these women wanted to work
would say that these women had no better options than to work and settle withsuch poor and unequal working conditions. However, this neglected the fact thatthese women had fought for the opportunity to work, and to work in betterworking conditions. Furthermore, it denied any possibility that women can findany meaning from work, simply because of the poor working conditions. Despite
the poorly and under-remunerated nature of non-regular work, there must still
be other reasons to explain why women worked hard for the limited earnings,
which might reveal a more complex relationship between women and paid work.
Apart from money, women also described the non-material gratification fromwork, from finding a new role for themselves outside traditional familial
responsibilities, newfound relationships with colleagues, clients and society via
work, and uncovering a sense of self. Exploring both monetary and nonmonetary aspects of work would form a more comprehensive understanding of
the meaning of paid work to these women. It is precisely because women findmeanings in even such difficult working conditions, they fought hard for the200

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opportunity to continue working under better working conditions throughactivism.
Activism, requires much effort in planning, coordinating and uniting people totake collective actions, and carries many risks for those who participated withno certainty of resulting in the triumph of workers and substantial material
gain. The South Korean women’s 510-day strike, failed to secure a return towork for all, as core unionists were dismissed in exchange for the rehiring of
the most women. Whereas the lawsuits of the metro ladies had secured somesuccess in gaining greater public attention and a few recognitions from thecourt on the unjustifiable unequal treatment between regular and non-regular
workers, while still unable to claim a full victory for their case.
Activism was a lengthy process in which women who participated had to
manage various setbacks, challenges or even danger. In both documentaries, amost common and prominent challenge was financial difficulties, as participatingin activism incurred risk of losing their jobs. Long term strikes meant a loss of
income for their family, and filing lawsuits also costed them their earnings andsavings. The share of housework was another pressing concern for most womenas they struggled between the roles of wives, mothers and activists in a still
deeply patriarchal society, where the burden of household responsibilities fellalmost exclusively on them. Activism had also put some women in face of legal
prosecut ion f rom t he compa ny a nd da nger of con f ront at ion w it h law
enforcement. Facing the far more influential, financially capable and legally
supported corporates, women drew strength from being connected to others
and being supported by caring and being care for in various relationships
formed in activism in order to endure these risks, uncertainties, challenges andsetbacks.

Activism as Relational: Caring and Being Care for“It’s really not just our fight, but we want it to become a fight that connects
all non-regular workers nationwide.” The relational dimension of the women’s
activism was most evident in their appeal directing not only to the company but
calling upon the society’s attention on the general issue of regular/non-regulardisparity. In their appeal, the women emphasised fighting on behalf of a wider
community of non-regular workers throughout the nation. Their activism was
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not only a fight for themselves but acts of caring for fellow non-regular workers,
caring on the issue of inequality and poverty, and caring for the society bychallenging such inequality. Seeking to connect to others, non-regular workers
in general and the public, the women drew strength from fighting for a greater
mission that was beyond them and connected them to the community of nonregular workers and the well-being of the society.
Care was demonstrated among the women themselves. Activism had firstand foremost brought the women together to know and care for each other.
Although these women worked for the same company, they might not knoweach other as their working stations and schedules were scattered. Joining theunion united these women under a common cause. Through the process ofactivism, the plentiful of time women spent together allowed them to bond withfellow women, getting to know about each other’s situations and to care for one
and other. As none of them had any experience in unionising, we observed
women talked to each other sharing their thoughts and doubts and graduallylearnt to navigate their activism.
Sleep-in strikes could hardly be described as comfortable, but the women
recalled a good time of solidarity as they wore their own union t-shirts, one by
one they took the stage to talk about themselves, sang union songs, made andshared food to make themselves comfortable at the strike site. Women during
the strike would take shifts so that they could take turns to go back home totake care of their family while keeping the strike going, and when their children
had suddenly fallen sick, other women would take their shift. A woman noted
down in a dairy in loving details of a hot rainy summer night, a fellow woman
went to check if the tents were safe from the heavy rain while others were
sleeping, and in the next morning, coffee was prepared as they chatted witheach other before seeing off those who finished their shifts. Supporting eachother through shared strength and resources created bonds over women andu nited t hem f urt her a long t he movement . Women developed a mutua lcommitment and felt responsible for one and other to carry on the fight, evenwhen the prolonging of the movement makes it difficult for many to continue.
The closeness between these women also allowed them to be responsive toother’s needs. The metro ladies’ union would have meetings at each other’s
homes and meals together after collective bargaining, where they talked
causally from how they felt about the bargaining to their own daily lives. From
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these frequent exchanges, this small union of four were able to respondpromptly and accurately to Senuma’s need for paid care leaves after her elderly
mother had fallen ill, and to Hikida’s urgency to extend employment after theretirement age to pay for her household and the livelihood of her and her
unemployed son. The woman’s words, “you are not alone. There are many allies”
in a sense, could be understood as help from other unions and people who
encouraged them on their actions, but women found allies in each other.
During their activism, both groups of women in Japan and South Korea hadreceived support from others in the society. Strike of the Tokyo metro ladies
was helped by other union groups which gathered over 100 members outside
the company office building to show support. In the documentary, the women
were invited to general union rallies to appear on stage and speak of theirexperience and thoughts about union activism. In more casual and joyous
occasions, such as the new year party, the women performed a parody of acommon kabuki play “Shiranami Gonin Otoko Five Men of the White Waves”,
which they re-arra nged to tell their own respective stories a nd ca lledthemselves five women of the white waves. The women’s later lawsuits wereassisted by labour rights lawyers. The journalist and documentary filmmakers’s
concern on women’s activism had further spread their stories on the internet
and into theatre, and aroused even greater attention from the general public tofollow these women’s activism and the issue of non-regular work. Similarly, theSouth Korean women had the support of a national scale union, the Korean
Confederation of Trade Unions, which provided both guidance and financial
assistance to the women. Other allies such as feminist and lawyers’ groups,
party politicians as well as individual support from the members of the public,
also paid visit to endorse the women’s cause.
Besides public support, a few women found an equally important source ofstrength from their family. Traditionally, unionists were men who were notexpected to bear household responsibility, yet these women faced a dilemma
juggling between activism and caring for their families. Frustration arose when
women were asked about their husband views or approval of their activism, or
when family members gradually became dissatisfied with the women’s absencefrom women to engage in strike. Women with supportive family members
willing to share the household responsibility and offer monetary support for the
women’s activism, still at times shared a sense of guilt for their prolonged
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detachment from their socially assumed care duties at home. Nonetheless, theemotional support and practical actions of share housework were indispensable
for women’s involvement in activism, particularly in the long run.

Activism: To be seen and heard, and new engagement
These webs of relationships in activism brought women further to new places
and to meet different people. Regardless of the outcome of activism, theprogress and experience of activism to be connected and drawing a wider social
attention from different people in society made women, who for long were
undervalued and for the most part unseen and their stories untold, felt visible
and acknowledged. Being seen and listened to, conveyed women a sense ofdignity and meanings in their non-regular work and activism. Activism gavethese women new engagement in life apart from family and work. The presenceof union formed and organised by women enabled women to establish their own
space in the male-orientated arena of unionism. Through learning about eachother they build up their narratives and found strength as a collective to takeactions. This new and unique experience enabled by the presence of a union of
women wa s a n ach ievement a nd t h roug h t h is col lect ive , women a lso
experienced personal growth, as the following quote from a booklet of the
documentary (Weabak Sidestory Editorial Committee, 2011) showed,“I didn’t go much to other places apart from my home and for work. It was
like being a frog in a well. From the moment that I began to join union
activities, I went to a lot of different places, starting from Pohang (the Southeast
of South Korea) to I don’t even know where I haven’t been before. I went toJapan as well. I encountered a lot of people, learnt about their ideas, went todemonstrations and heard their thoughts too, from that I gradually develop myown consciousness.”
The sense of mission for others and society, and the deeper personal reflection
women gained through activism, had enforced a sense of self as one womancommented, “regardless of the outcome, the action of revealing the problem
itself carries meaning and is a proof of that we are living human being.” Even
though the ending of the women’s 510-day strike did not meet its initial goal, acore union member who was laid off from work commented on her gain fromthe movement. “We didn’t only have losses in the strike, but gain many things
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as well. Honestly, the scope of my thinking has widened. I realised that
capitalism, in essence, was controlled by the decisions of capitalists. These kindsof things helped me to look close into the roots of our society.” Through thesereflective thoughts, the experience and connections from the movement,
hopefully, women can maintain their care for others and society in theirdifferent roles in life in the future.

Work: Money and what more can money bring
Indeed, many women began to work to earn income to support their own andt heir fa m ily’s livelihood . The money women ea r ned f rom non-reg u la r
employment, though limited, provided for women and their families to a certain
extent. Contrary to a common societal perception that these women weremerely working part-time to earn an allowance for their personal use, the wage
earned by many of the women were the main, if not, an important source ofincome to sustain their household, to say the least.
Money was most likely to be the first and main motivation for women to seek
work in the first place, but in the narratives of these women, seldom would they
say they work to earn money but often “to make a living”. This manner ofsaying would be implied that women valued the effect that the money brings totheir and their family’s livelihood, to sustain and improve “living” more thanmoney itself. Money served as a mean to improve living rather than the end to
why women work.
Care ethics offered alternative moral reasoning on the basis of care, as nonreg ula r workers have a n equa l obligat ion as reg ula r workers to ca re.
Companies, which focused only on a contractual obligation to pay workers justly
according to the agreed amount, neglected this dimension of how individuals,
regardless of gender, work to take care of themselves and others. Companies
have not only avoided their responsibility to care for their non-regular workers
by paying as regular who worked the same job, but also, neglect the non-regular
worker’s obligation to care, in turn, tempered workers’ ability to care properly.
Women, single or married, with children or other dependent family members
often recited instances of using the money they earn to improve livelihood andalleviate financial drain. Among the four members of the metro ladies union,
Hikida was working to support her live-in son as a single mother on top of
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repaying the house loan and Senuma was making a livelihood as a single
women with an elder mother with medical needs.
Ms KL, 55, spoke about using her earnings to put her daughter throughuniversity, “the money I earned, without ever putting into my account, was allused for this family. When the children were in university, my husband had
difficulty gathering money to pay for their tuition fees. Frankly, when our
daughter was admitted into university, he said, “what is the point of sending agirl to university,” and did not give a single Korean won for her tuition. I earned
the money for it. It was me who sent our daughter to university.”
Women worked for their family to pay for various expenses, and from this,experienced a new way of caring. While traditionally, women stayed at home tobe housewives and mothers providing and caring for the household throughcarrying out housework and taking care of the physical and emotional needs oftheir family members, working as a non-regular worker, though with limited
money, had enabled t hese women to provide a nd ca re for t heir fa mily
monetarily, even at greater liberty to spend their earnings in what they
consider fit for the family.
Many women did not feel their work at home was valued as they should.
Whereas earning a salary, even though little and underpaid, from their workoutside home, was a monetary valuation of their labour that could be used tocare for their family. Ms KO, who started working for the first time at 43
following her husband’s death, described receiving her first salary, “before
working here, I had been a professional housewife doing housework at home, so
it was my first experience formally receiving a salary. When women workoutside, they would receive an envelope with the salary for the month. It isdifficult to put a value on that. We women had always been working at home
and we never got anything like that, but when we work at the workplace, thevalue of our work can be reflected from the salary we get such month and thatis how we continue to work.”
Rather than claiming this material contribution to the family as superior to
the accustomed role of housework, this new experience of what one can do for
their loved ones offered a novel sense of reward and affirmation for women.
This sense of being able to provide for those they care for, to a certain sense,
meditated the hardship of work.

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Work: For Family and Relations beyond family
Family is a n importa nt consideration when women making decisions
regarding their employment. When choosing between a better-paid job and one
closer to home, some women opted for the latter because it allowed them tobetter fulfil their social expectations as wives and mothers. “At first, I worked
at a catering company for around 15 years. The pay was good but since theworkplace was at a wedding hall, I had to work during the weekends and tillvery late hours. My mother-in-law was very unhappy about this”. Ms KL was
asked by her mother-in-law to work somewhere closer to home. Even though
the pay was less, she decided to quit her catering company work and worked at
the supermarket instead so that she would make meals and take care of thefamily, which kept her mother-in-law happy.
Besides working for family, women discovered and established new relations
with co-workers, customers, and society through work, and these newfoundrelationships had also become significant components of work for women.
Women described the fun of knowing people at work and working together withco-workers, and other women found consolation withstanding the tough working
condition, among co-workers who shared the experience. Ms MH recollected
relaxing with her colleagues, “work was physically exhausting, but occasionally,
I would go for a beer with co-workers after work before going back home. We
did even not go to a bar, and it was just outside where we worked.”Interacting with customers was a frequent and main part of their job working
at frontline service work. Particularly for the women working their station at
the metro small shops, the one-on-one interaction with customers made theirrelationship with regular customers more intimate. Happenings with customers
were included in the parody song that the metro ladies wrote, as they sang“occasionally there came a customer who always called me “Okasan (mum)”, I
never recalled raising you I thought silently. I got irritated but I pretended it
was nothing.” This event showed how women form relationships with regularcustomers and felt a sense of duty to the customers. Kanou described how she
felt she had to keep her store open as usual even on the day after the 311 East
Japan Earthquake. Even when the company failed to give instructions, shethought “for the customers, the shop must be kept open on its opening hours
and it was from there, a sense of trust was born.” On her last day of work after
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spending 10 years with the company, Kanou told the bittersweet of working, “Istarted working after turning 55, so it was quite tough. But on the other side, it
has been fun. The encountering with customers is fun. Now, there is a tint ofsadness. There is still something not entirely accomplished.”
Returning to women’s experience of getting paid for her work as a nonregular worker, to engage in paid employment enabled women to connect tosociety and to finally be valued by society for their work. Although the nonvaluation and undervaluation of the contribution of care work in the family tothe sustainability of our society is heavily criticized by feminist, under thecurrent social reality which the role and value of housework in the private were
neglected, paid work, even if it was non-regular work, asserted women a role in
the public sphere, and as workers, to be considered as a contributing member ofthe economy and society.

Work: Sense of self, Individual Freedom and Aspirations
Many women found work to have re-ignited their aspirations and to rethink
what do they want to do for themselves. Ms JS, who was married and had
three adult children, described herself as active during her youth and used togo wherever her feelings took her before getting married. After marriage, she
had focused entirely on taking care of her new family, in-laws and later her
children for decades till she decided to work again after all her children went touniversity and her in-laws had passed away. She found satisfaction from workby putting her skills to do her job well, getting to know people at work, andearning an income. Since she started working, “I began to think about what I
have to do to make my dream come true from that point.”
Other women found a sense of freedom in work, by taking a break from theirconventional family roles as wives, mothers, and daughters, and to live as anindividual who was defined not only by family and domestic life. It was not toundermine the value of family, as after all, these women had done so much fortheir family, but to say women can experiment with other roles. Work and paid
employment had provided them with this opportunity to switch up their role,and to take a small break from a role of family and domesticity that had
dominated their lives for decades, as the following quotes shows:“I got married at the age of 25, and it was my first escape to get away from
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my controlling father. The second escape was to work. Before that, I was not
sure about what I could do, but work allowed me to discover a new side of self
to get out there and have a try.” Ms KO“There are many people in the family so there is no space to be alone.
Sometimes I would use work as an excuse to not go to some events with myhusband’s family or other family activity and at those times, I get to have thehouse to myself and those times, are true freedom. I felt like I can spread mywings.” Ms MH
The ability to have different roles in life, allows reflection and exploration in a
way that women can and are at liberty to develop their sense of self. With thefreedom switching between different roles of housewives, wives, mothers andworkers, women, find themselves in these new roles and experiences, to dreamand to reach out to new aspects of life. The expansion of roles women can playadds new dimensions in their lives, and leads to further reflection on their senseof self and exploration on what women want to do in life, such as activism,
where they find new role as activists and form even more rays of caring
relationship.
Women had a much more complex relationship with work, as work was bothdifficult and exhausting but at times liberating for women at times from theirconventional role of housewives and chores of housework. Access to choices,
was empowering for women, “going to work, how to say it ... maybe freedom.
Work is an exhausting thing but spiritually it was fun.” Despite the less-thandesirable and unequal working conditions, when women in the documentaries
were let go from their work, they were in pain and despair at the sudden lossof, financial stability, but also the intangibles relationships they formed throughwork as well as sense of self, freedom and aspiration. Refusing to accept andgive up on these treasured relationships and values, became the importantdrives that united women to fight for work and for better ways to work throughactivism.
This observation, which a sense of self seemed to act as a foundation forfurther caring relation, echoes with feminist’s understanding of autonomy with
the interconnectedness of human relations in care ethics (Mackenzie & Stoljar,
2000). This sense of autonomy that women experienced is not necessarily
contradictory to the relational dimension of life and work. Autonomy, a certain
sense of self, is essential for an individual to make decisions regarding their
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lives, particular relational decisions, such as who to reach out to, changing
existing and building new relationships.

Conclusion
Through analysing the documentaries on women’s activism from a care
perspective, this article presented and explored the relational dimension of thewomen’s experience and making sense of their non-regular work and activism.
Applying care ethics in analsying women’s work and activism under the
documentary lens, rays of caring relationship were observed among women,between women and family, co-workers, clients at workplace and even withother members of society. While work and activism are orientated towards
certain goals, the dynamics took place in the process of work and activism,
which these caring relationships were formed and reinforced through acts ofcaring and being care for, was equally important in making sense of non-regular
work and activism.
This relational dimension of women’s work and activism reflected how womendelivered and received care in these relationships with others even in a state ofprecariousness. Women had both drawn strength from the acts of caring forand being cared for by others, and these relationships of care were significant
in helping them to negotiate and withstand the constraints, challenges andstruggles of non-reg ula r work a nd activism, a nd further facilitate thedevelopment of a sense of self, nurture the confidence and skills to act upon
their aspirations in life. Moving beyond material incentives, the intangible values
and rewards from the process of caring and receiving care, are crucial in workand activism. The activism of women sheds light on recognising the criticalpotential of care in building resilience and resistance. With care as a basic
human capacity to women and men, this implication inspires future women’s
resistance and beyond.
Although these women’s activism so far has yet to have a significant and farreaching impact on eliminating the inequality between regular and non-regular
work, nor overturning women’s prevalence in this much stigmatised form of
non-regular employment, the way women finding strength as a collective in
activism prompted reflection on the transformation from resilience to a more
revolutionary force of resistance. The potential of women as a collective in
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initiating a resistance by and for women would be meaningful to the general
feminist movement worldwide. To understa nd how to susta in women’s
participation in activism, future research would be recommended to explore theestablishment of caring institutions in family, company, union to support women
to seek greater change in the circumstances of women and non-regular work.

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Abstract

Caring Relations: a care ethics
perspective on the activism of women in
non-regular employment in Japan andSouth Korea through documentary films
Hiu Tung YOW

The continuing prevalence of women in non-regular employment has attracted
much scholarly interest in its economic and gender implications. Existing
researches, which focus predominantly on macro-structures, have given little
discussion to the voices of women on how they view their engagement in nonregular employment. Yet, in reality, women have negotiated in various ways
with these macro structures that shape their predicament in non-regular
employment and their struggles were well-documented by media workers.
There is a recent academic trend to use virtual media, such as television,
films and documentaries, as the medium for analysing society and social
phenomena with an ethics of care. This method joins care ethics’ attentivenessto the relational dimension of human interaction, and the characteristics ofvisual media, which captures people’s feelings, voices and interactions withothers extensively. This article analysed documentaries on the activism of
women in non-regular employment, to listen closely to the voices of women andunderstand how they make sense of their non-regular work and activism.
Through analysing two documentaries’, Metro Ladies Blues and WeaBak,
audiovisual accounts of the collective actions by women in non-regular
employment in Japan and South Korea, this article applies a care ethics
perspect ive to inquire individua l women’s experiences in non-reg ula r
employment and their activism in a relational and contextual setting. In
exploring the meaning of work and employment to these women, I moved
beyond mere material motivation and the all-too-convenient answer of “no better
option”, to ask why these women decide to work and to continue to work insuch poorly remunerated and insecure form of employment. Furthermore,
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taking collective actions carries much uncertainty and does not necessarily
result in the triumph of all workers and material gain. Here, I ask why women
put themselves at risk of dismissal and danger of confrontation with law
enforcement and legal prosecution to fight for their causes.
Conceptualising work and activism as fields of webs of relationships, thedecision to work and to continue working entails not only material concerns, butalso considerations for one’s personal development, life goals and interests, forfamily, friends, co-workers and clients at the workplace, and even the generalsociety. It is argued that these caring relationships are invaluable to women’s
making-sense of their non-regular employment, and help women, as agents, tonegotiate varying levels of structural, institutional and contextual constraints,
and to strategise different ways, despite their constrained positions, to mediate
their lives around this low-pay and insecure form of employment and thechallenges of activism.

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