• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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• v.34
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• pp.12.1-12.11
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• 2022

Background: Gender equality in the workplace remains a challenge. This study aimed to investigate the gender gap of human resources in the field of occupational safety and health (OSH) in Korea. Methods: Several national statistical data that can confirm the gender distribution of personnel in the OSH sector were reviewed. The gender distribution of industrial technical manpower statistics, professional certificate holders in the OSH field, and the status of the appointment of safety and health managers by industry was analyzed. Results: The distribution of professionals in the OSH sector in Korea had a large gender gap with a small number of women. In particular, the proportion of women in the safety field was lower than that in the health field. In the younger age group, while the proportion of women is increasing, the gender gap tends to decrease. Conclusions: Few data are available to understand the gender-related aspects of OSH professions. Nevertheless, our results provide basic information for initiating a discussion on the necessity of establishing gender-sensitive culture and policies in the OSH sector.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.113-121
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• 2012

Objectives: This study examined the trends in gender disparity in the self-rated health of people aged 25 to 64 in South Korea, a rapidly changing society, with specific attention to socio-structural inequality. Methods: Representative sample data were obtained from six successive, nationwide Social Statistics Surveys of the Korean National Statistical Office performed during 1992 to 2010. Results: The results showed a convergent trend in poor self-rated health between genders since 1992, with a sharper decline in gender disparity observed in younger adults (aged 25 to 44) than in older adults (aged 45 to 64). The diminishing gender gap seemed to be attributable to an increase in women;s educational attainment levels and to their higher status in the labor market. Conclusions: The study indicated the importance of equitable social opportunities for both genders for understanding the historical trends in the gender gap in the self-reported health data from South Korea.

• Journal of Engineering Education Research
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.26-39
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to compare and analyze the employment rate of engineering graduates in the last eight years (2011-2018) by gender and majors. Using the statistical yearbook for employment of higher education graduates provided by the Korea Educational Development Institute (KEDI), the employment rate and retained employment rate of engineering graduates were investigated. As results, first, the employment rate has been decreasing since 2011, and the gender employment rate gap has not narrowed and women have always been lower than men. Second, most of the engineering graduates were workers with employee health insurance. On the other hand, women were higher than men in works with self-employee health insurance. Third, from 2016 to 2018, the retained employment rate of engineering graduates was similar, and as the survey progressed, the retained employment rate decreased. In particular, women had lower retained employment rate than men. The study is meaningful in that it suggested ways to bridge the gap between gender and majors employment rates of engineering graduates.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.22-31
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• 2011

Objectives: We examined gender differential changes in employment-related health inequalities according to occupational position (professional/nonprofessional) in South Korea during the last decade. Methods: Data were taken from four rounds of Social Statistical Surveys of South Korea (1995, 1999, 2003, and 2006) from the Korean National Statistics Office. The total study population was 55435 male and 33913 female employees aged 25-64. Employment arrangements were divided into permanent, fixed-term, and daily employment. Results: After stratification according to occupational position (professional/nonprofessional) and gender, different patterns in employment - related health inequalities were observed. In the professional group, the gaps in absolute and relative employment inequalities for poor self-rated health were more likely to widen following Korea's 1997 economic downturn. In the nonprofessional group, during the study period, graded patterns of employment-related health inequalities were continuously observed in both genders. Absolute health inequalities by employment status, however, decreased among men but increased among women. In addition, a remarkable increase in relative health inequalities was found among female temporary and daily employees (p = 0.009, < 0.001, respectively), but only among male daily employees (p = 0.001). Relative employment-related health inequalities had clearly widened for female daily workers between 2003 and 2006 (p = 0.047). The 1997 Korean economic downturn, in particular, seemingly stimulated a widening gap in employment health inequalities. Conclusions: Our study revealed that whereas absolute health inequalities in relation to employment status increased in the professional group, relative employment-related health inequalities increased in the nonprofessional group, especially among women. In view of the high concentration of female nonstandard employees, further monitoring of inequality should consider gender specific patterns according to employee's occupational and employment status.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.66 no.2
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• pp.159-177
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• 2014

This study examines gender differentials in depression among Korean older adults. Using logistic regression and decomposition methods, this study analyzes factors that predict depression of a full sample and separate male/female samples, respectively. Further, this study decomposes factors that affect gender differentials in depression into two components: the distributions of individual variables and the returns to risk. This study finds the variables that separately predict depression by gender. For male, having a smaller social network is associated with depression; however for female, the number of falls is associated with depression. This study also finds that being married, having greater satisfaction with current financial situation, and having good physical health increases the gap between males' and females'depression. Married male have greater returns from marriage than females. If females had the same returns as male, then the gap would have decreased by about 40%.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.362-370
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• 2020

Objectives: Despite greater access to training positions and the presence of more women in emergency medicine, it has remained a men-dominated field. This study aims to identify the key issues causing the gender gap in Korea and establish measures to overcome them. Methods: Using the annual statistical reports of the National Emergency Medical Center and data published on the Korean Society of Emergency Medicine website, cases that listed the current status and positions of members in its organization and its committees were analyzed. Secondary analysis was conducted using data from the 2015 Korean Society of Emergency Survey that included physicians' demographics, academic ranking, years of experience, clinical work hours, training and board certification, core faculty status, position, and salaries. Results: As of September 2019, women account for only 12.7% of the total number of emergency physicians (EP) in Korea; of 119 chair/vice-chair academic positions, women represented only 9.2%. Women EP were more often assistant professors and fellowship-trained, with fewer in core faculty. However, they worked the same numbers of clinical hours as their men counterparts. The median annual salary of women EP was less than that of men EP after adjusting for academic hospital rank, clinical hours, and core faculty status. Conclusions: A gender gap still exists among Korean EP, and women earn less than men regardless of their rank, clinical hours, or training. Future studies should evaluate more data and develop system-wide practices to eliminate gender disparities.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.141-151
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• 2008

The purpose of this study was to examine the oral health awareness and oral health care of health-related and health-unrelated majors in an attempt to stress the importance of oral health education and boost the efficiency of oral health care. The subjects in this study were 363 college students. Out of the selected students, 174 were health-related majors, and 189 weren't. After a survey was conducted, the collected data were analyzed for the purpose of comparison, and the following findings were given: 1. Concerning daily mean toothbrushing frequency, the largest number of the male students who accounted for 55.2 percent brushed their teeth once a day on average, and the greatest number of the female students who represented 52.9 percent did that twice a day. As for the influence of their major, the largest group of the health-related majors who numbered 89(51.1%) brushed their teeth twice a day, and the greatest group of the health-unrelated majors who numbered 93(49.2%) did that once a day. The gaps between them were statistically significant(p<0.05). 2. As to the length of toothbrushing time by gender, it took more than two or three minutes for the largest groups of the male and female students that respectively numbered 96(76.8%) and 184(77.3%) to do toothbrushing(p<0.01). The greatest groups of the male and female students that respectively numbered 72(57.6%) and 183(76.9%) brushed their teeth after meals. 3. In regard to oral hygiene supplies, the largest groups of the health-related and health-unrelated majors that respectively numbered 78(44.8%) and 115(60.8%) had chewing gum and candy with them. As to the use of oral hygiene supplies, 99 health-related majors(56.9%) and 133 health-unrelated majors(70.4%) didn't put oral hygiene supplies to use. Thus, the use of oral hygiene supplies was statistically less common among the health-unrelated majors, and the gap between the two was significant(p<0.01). 4. As for health-related concern by gender, the largest group of the male students that numbered 56(44.8%) showed the most interest in preventing dental caries, and the greatest group of the female students that numbered 103(43.3%) were most concerned about tooth whitening. The gap between the male and female students was statistically significant(p<0.05), but the track of their major made no statistically significant difference to that. 5. Regarding the experience and awareness of scaling, the largest number of the students never got their teeth scaled regardless of gender and major, and the greatest group didn't care about scaling irrespective of gender and major, either, though they considered it advisable to do.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.167-194
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• 2004

This paper examine the gender-poverty gap and the feminization of poverty in Korea with using data from the National Survey Household Income & Expenditure(1996, 2000) and the Urban Survey Household Income & Expenditure(1996-2002) by Korea National Statistical Office. The poverty rate in 2000 was 16.9 percent for female-head families and 7.9 percent for male-head families, which means that female-head families were 2.6 times more likely to be poor than male-head families. With examining impact of economic crisis in 1998 on gender-poverty gap, it show that both the poverty rate of female-head and male-head increase radically in peak of economic crisis, while, in the stage of recovering economy, the poverty rate of male-head families recovered mostly the level before economic crisis, but that of female-head families recover only the 2/3 level before and the 1/3 remain still under poverty. Thus gender-poverty gap appeared bigger during passing through economic crisis. With analyzing on influence factors of poverty, it appear that poverty is influenced by gender itself as well as education level, working condition which is reflected substantially characteristics of gender. Such an analysis results mean that the considering gender dimension is necessary to resolve poverty fundamentally because gender is a point intersection among family, labour market, and social security. Therefore it appears certain that to develop and adopt of women-friendly social policy is effective approach, which could resolve poverty and social problems related to social rights.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.251-260
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• 2012

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to examine the knowledge of people in general about orthodontic treatment and their attitude to that by conducting a survey in a bid to provide information on the improvement of their incorrect awareness of orthodontics and on the development of clinical orthodontic treatment. Methods and Results : The subjects in this study were 389 people in general who resided in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. A self-administered survey was conducted, and the findings of the study were as follows: 1. As for awareness of orthodontic treatment among the people in general by gender, the women knew better about orthodontic treatment than the men, and the gender gap was significant(p<0.05). 2. Concerning satisfaction with the shape and arrangement of the teeth by age, those who were in their 20s were most satisfied, and the teens were satisfied the least. There were significant gaps according to age (p<0.05). 3. As a result of checking the degree of their inconvenience about the use of chewing teeth by age, the people who were in their 30s felt the most inconvenience, and the gap between them and the others was significant(p<0.01). 4. As a result of asking them whether they had an intention to receive orthodontic treatment, the women had a more intention to do that than the men(p<0.001). By age, the younger respondents had a more intention, and the gaps between them and the others were significant(p<0.001). 5. As a result of analyzing their perception of the positives of orthodontics by gender, the women took a more positive view of it than the men, and their gap was significant(p<0.01). Conclusions : When orthodontic treatment or orthodontic treatment counseling is provided to orthodontic treatment patients or people in general in the field of clinical dentistry, it should be noted that the way patients and people in general look at orthodontic treatment is different according to their age and gender, and they should be informed of the positives of orthodontic treatment to step up the development of orthodontic treatment.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.93-104
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• 2009

Objectives: Although Asian immigrants have lower rates of smoking and binge drinking than other ethnics in the US, Korean Americans have the highest rate of Asian immigrants. This study, therefore, compared with the rates and examined the predictors of smoking and binge drinking by gender and ethnicity among Asian immigrants in California. Methods: In 2001 and 2003, California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) were conducted in English and their original languages with Asian immigrants residing in 58 Counties and 3 Cities, California. We performed analysis to find out the differences of smoking and binge drinking rates using the secondary data, CHIS 2001 and 2003. Multiple logistic regression analysis for survey data identified predictors of smoking and binge drinking behaviors by gender and ethnicity. Results: Korean American males (35.4%) and Japanese American females (15.4%) had higher rates of smoking prevalence compared with other Asian immigrants in California. In binge drinking, 26.5% of male and 8.1% of female among Korean Americans were binge drinker, and the rates were the top with Asian Americans who had lived in California. It showed the remarkable gap between gender of smoking and binge drinking among Vietnamese immigrants, whereas not the striking difference among Japanese Americans. In multiple regression models, age, educational level, occupation, marital status, English proficiency, and health insurance coverage remained significant for smoking and binge drinking behaviors(P<0.05). Even though the time in the US was not significant, it seemed to be related to educational level and English proficiency. In particular among female, smoking and binge drinking behaviors were associated with acculturation. Conclusion: Although Asian Americans had shared with American culture since they had immigrated in the US, they had significantly different prevalence rates of smoking and binge drinking based on gender and ethnicity. Therefore, future efforts should be focused on understanding differences by ethnicity and target at high-risk subgroups. To achieve this, it needs to develop the educational materials in Korean and their original languages.