Click to expand Image Cleaner at work in a Seoul metro station, Seoul, South Korea. © 2022 Shutterstock (Seoul) – Women in South Korea face systemic gender discrimination at every stage of their working lives, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. These adverse impacts accumulate as women get older, and are compounded by systemic age discrimination, resulting in harm to their physical and mental health.The 92-page report, “Too Old and a Woman: Systemic Age and Gender Discrimination Against Women at Work in South Korea,” documents that social attitudes toward education, unfair treatment in hiring, disrupted careers due to family responsibilities, limited promotion opportunities, glass ceilings, and sexual harassment create a disadvantage for South Korean women throughout their working lives. As women get older, their work opportunities narrow to a handful of low-paid, insecure jobs, and the gender pay gap increases. By the time they are eligible for pensions, women face a significant gender pension gap. September 8, 2026 Too Old and A Woman Systemic Age and Gender Discrimination Against Women at Work in South Korea Download the full report in English “South Korean women spend their entire working lives in a system stacked against them, which becomes harder as they get older,” said Bridget Sleap, senior researcher on the rights of older people at Human Rights Watch. “The government should take steps to ensure women’s equality at work and equal access to adequate pensions.”Between February and November 2025, Human Rights Watch interviewed 41 South Korean women, ages 28 to 87, working in the public and private sectors. In addition, Human Rights Watch consulted 59 experts, including researchers, academics, and trade union workers, analyzed government data, and reviewed national legislation and reports by government, research, and international institutions.The older women get, the fewer work opportunities they have, and the worse their working conditions become, Human Rights Watch found. In her 20s, Yang Myung-ju, 55, assessed claims at an insurance company. When she went back to work at 41 after raising her sons, the only job she could find was part-time in a call center on a temporary contract with no sick pay. “When I tried to go back to work in a large company, the positions had already gone to younger workers and there was no spot for middle-aged women,” she said. “Only the call center had no age limit.” Click to expand Image Graphic © 2026 Human Rights Watch Government efforts to support women to return to work contribute to women’s occupational segregation. The Employment and Labor Ministry promotes jobs for women in their 30s to 50s on Work24, its employment website, that reinforce gender stereotypes, revolving predominantly around beauty, care work, education, and relationship support.The Labor Ministry promotes an even more limited range of low-paid, precarious jobs to older people. Sixty percent of jobs on Work24 tagged for those aged 50 or older were in-home caregiving jobs, and 90 percent fell under just five categories: health care, care and support; cleaning services; building security and management; and food service. The majority of applicants for lower paid care worker, building cleaner, kitchen assistant, cook, and social service roles are older women.The work available to older women can cause significant harm to their physical and mental health, Human Rights Watch found. Older women care workers face disproportionate risk of exposure to sexual harassment, inappropriate sexual behavior, and abuse. The intense physical workloads of school cooks, cleaners, care workers and those working on the street take their toll.As women get older, they face ageism—stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination based on older age—as well as sexism. “Nobody likes older women at work,” said C. Eun-jung, a 55-year-old transport worker. She said that younger male colleagues called older women “kkul ajumma,” honey auntie. “It’s very mocking,” she said, “and has negative connotations, that [older] women take the benefits that men should have, like sucking honey.”Regulations governing the National Old Age Pension compound women’s low pensions which are on average 47 percent lower than men’s. Women are more likely than men to get a reduced pension because they have not contributed for the 20 or more years necessary to qualify for a full one. The design of the “childbirth credit” also creates a disadvantage for women. Because the benefit is paid at pension eligibility age and generally allocated to the higher earning parent, only 3 percent of childbirth credit recipients in 2025 were women, despite women being the overwhelming majority of their children’s primary caregivers. Click to expand Image Graphic © 2026 Human Rights Watch Jung Kyong-sook, 55, went back to work in her mid-40s and will be eligible for the National Old Age Pension when she is 65, but expects to get a pension below the monthly poverty line of KRW1.2 million (US$791). “The pension is so little,” she said. “I assume I'll get KRW500,000 to KRW600,000 ($349 to $419) per month. That's why we need to work until 70.”Human Rights Watch contacted the Ministries of Employment and Labor, Gender Equality and Family, Health and Welfare, and the National Pension Service in May for comment on its findings but has not received any responses.Human Rights Watch’s findings are consistent with government data documenting persistent gender and age inequalities in employment and pension income.South Korea is obligated under international human rights law to ensure that everyone can enjoy their rights to nondiscrimination, work, and social security, regardless of age and gender. The South Korean government should address harmful age and gender stereotypes, remove gender and age biases from its employment support programs, adopt a comprehensive antidiscrimination law, and ensure equal access to pensions of at least equivalent to a living wage.“Systemic discrimination at work is causing South Korean women significant harm,” Sleap said. “The South Korean government needs to dismantle harmful gender and age stereotypes so that younger and older women alike will not be trapped in a system of ever-decreasing pay, increasing occupational segregation, and inadequate income in older age with little hope of improvement.”