This petition against requiring photos on resumes was inspired by my experience of appearance-based bias as a model and anecdotes of my interviewees who have suffered from flawed Fair Hiring Procedure Act (FHPA).

 

After extensive research on both online and offline corporations that require photo-resumes, international standards in fair-hiring policies, and obtaining real-life stories from women who were affected by the shortcomings of such policies, I petitioned Korea’s Ministry of Employment and Labor and National

 

Assembly to expand the FHPA’s coverage by lowering its minimum employee threshold from 30 to 15. Moreover, the petition includes strengthening the effectiveness of enforcement measures, such as fines, corrections, and education, regarding the repeated request and collection of personal information unrelated to job duties, and strictly separating identity verification information, such as photos, from the initial job competency assessment.

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This petition is crucial to not only reducing appearance-based discrimination in the workforce, but also gender and financial discrimination. Women are often disproportionately affected by the weak reinforcement of FHPA, as corporations with job postings often say, “ 172 tall male preferred” or  “looking for __ women,” allowing sexism to persist during the hiring process. 

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Moreover, South Korea’s rigid beauty ideals that can only be obtained through plastic surgery or beauty items and treatments are heavily imposed upon even workers. Applicants who do not have the financial means to obtain such appearance-enhancing treatments are disadvantaged in the hiring process, undermining employment’s role as a means of achieving financial stability.