What the Postings Say Out Loud
The chart measures explicit language only, and that limit is the finding. Naming it in the title turns a weakness into the argument.
The graph below displays data from Korean job advertisements across different sectors regarding appearance, gender, and photo requirements.
Clusters represent industries, and bubble sizes represent the percentage of industry job postings that include the signifier. The gold rings indicate violations of the Fair Hiring Procedure Act: photo requirements, declared gender preferences, and the combination of gender and height.
The key to the analysis is the comparison of results. Appearance can perhaps be considered job-relevant in some industries. The question is whether the terminology is maintained.
The Act forbids employers with 30 or more employees from requesting an applicant's appearance, height, and weight. However, there have been instances of job postings complying with the letter of the law but getting all the information the law was meant to protect against through changing terminologies. That is why the photo bubbles need to be compared with the gender and height bubbles rather than separately.
One caveat regarding the numbers. What is counted here is the employers' terminology. The employer’s bias and thoughts that are not written is beyond counting.