"It is as difficult as a camel to get into a needle hole for Korean office workers to pass through the four stages of marriage, pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare safely."

This is a commentary made by Gapjiil 119 at work about the report card of Korea's fertility rate'Last'.

"When I told you that I had a child and decided to have a wedding, my boss said,'How long are you going to be pregnant?'

This is an experience story of an office worker complaining,'I was pregnant and I was forced to become an uncomfortable employee.'

"The boss of the company said,'If a woman marries, she should quit her job,' so I told her that she would work hard even if she got married. Then, she said,'Female employees must go on maternity leave, take parental leave, and are troublesome."

A civic group called'Work Gap Jil 119', a group of labor experts such as labor attorneys and lawyers, disclosed cases of workplace Gap Jil infringing on maternal protection rights.

The group criticized, "This is why Korea is the only OECD member country of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that has a total fertility rate of less than 1 person."

The total fertility rate in Korea last year was 0.92. It means that less than one child is expected to have a woman in her lifetime. This is the lowest since statistics were written in 1970.

As of 2018, Korea is the only country with a total fertility rate of 0 out of 37 OECD countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The OECD average is 1.63, and in Korea, the fertility rate is'last place'.

In the reality of female workers who have no choice but to worry about career breaks, the birth rate'last' is an inseparable shadow.

Gapjiil 119 Attorney Shin Hana pointed out that "socially, while emphasizing the importance of pregnancy, childbirth, and child-rearing, the reality of penalizing these causes is contradictory."

There is a growing voice that the level of labor supervision and punishment should be strengthened to protect the rights of women workers for maternal protection.

This is'News Pick'.