Among them, the largest proportion, 54.2 percent, were sexual harassment cases at the workplace.

Meanwhile, 35.6 percent of the complaints were about being discriminated at work for being pregnant. Also, 5.1 percent experienced physical or emotional bullying at work.

The report found that the majority of those who have been sexually harassed at work were nursing assistants, referring to those who obtained a yearlong certification program offered in non-university institutions. In the local medical field, there is a defined hierarchy among physicians, registered nurses and nursing assistants, whose pay rate, responsibilities and duties vary.

Compared to registered nurses, who attended four-year university degree programs and whose responsibilities include providing doctor-ordered treatments, nursing assistants usually have a lower pay with their primary duties consisting of cleaning and bathing patients as well as administrative tasks.

The report pointed out that such a hierarchy was one of the reasons behind the high number of sexual harassment victims among nursing assistants. The highest proportion of perpetrators were male patients (73.7 percent), and the second-highest proportion (13.8 percent) were doctors and owners of the medical institutions where the nursing assistants were employed.

Meanwhile, among 153 female medical residents surveyed by the NHRCK, 77.8 percent said they felt hospitals prefer to hire unmarried female residents. Also, 53 percent of them felt they experienced gender-based discrimination during training, while also perceiving barriers to promotion.

While not feeling as strongly as female medical residents, Korea’s nurses and nursing assistants also believed that there is gender discrimination in the workplace, the report found.

Among the 977 nurses and nursing assistants surveyed by the human rights agency, 58.3 percent said single women have a higher chance of getting a job in the field than those who are married. Also, 55.3 percent said one’s appearance, such as her height, weight and physical attractiveness, played a factor during the job selection process at medical institutions.

“Whenever the president of the hospital had guests over, our boss would selectively ask those who are slim and good looking to greet them in a docile manner and keep them entertained,” one of the nurses interviewed for the report was quoted as saying.

As of 2015, 98.3 percent of nurses nationwide are female, according to the Korean Nurses Association.

The report also revealed that a significant portion of the surveyed women felt that pregnancy can ruin their career prospects. A total of 71.4 percent of female medical residents and 39.5 percent of nurses and nursing assistants said they felt they could not plan on having children freely and were practically required to consult their employer before getting pregnant.

Also, 61.7 percent of the nurses and nursing assistants and 77.4 percent of the medical residents said they worked beyond the legal limit while pregnant.

One of the cases included in the report consisted of a medical resident who had to work until just a few hours before her own labor -- assisting other mothers giving birth at her hospital’s obstetrics unit.

“Most female residents aren’t allowed to breast-feed their babies at work,” said Hyun Jung-hee from the Korean Public Service and Transport Workers Union at a forum in Seoul on Tuesday. “Isn’t it ironic how a female doctor can’t breast-feed her own children at work while their job is to encourage as many women to breast-feed as possible?”

Hyun said the biggest problem is that most medical institutions don’t hire enough staff to save on labor costs.

“According to government data we obtained from the Health Ministry, more than 80 percent of medical institutions don’t follow the law which stipulates that all hospitals should have at last two nurses per five patients,” she said.

“And by allowing hospitals to be so understaffed, the government should know that citizens’ safety and health is at risk.”

The report claimed that female health care workers have a higher risk of developing sleep disorders, mental health conditions and cardiovascular disease.

“And from our research, we found that they are constantly exposed to gender discrimination at work, which can severely deteriorate the quality of their private and family life,” it said.

By Claire Lee (dyc@heraldcorp.com)