[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-149668-en":3,"doc-seo-149668-105":31,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":92},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":28,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":29,"read_time":30},149668,8796095027276,"wps_ap_test_251126_0180","https://avatar.qwps.com/avatar/d3BzX2FwX3Rlc3RfMjUxMTI2XzAxODA=",8,"Research & Report","Protecting Women’s Labour Rights in the Creative Platform Economy - The Case of South Korean Webtoons and Webnovels","This research examines gender inequality in the creative platform economy through the experiences of webtoonists and webnovelists in South Korea. Findings show female creators face acute vulnerability to online harassment, discrimination, hate speech, unequal pay, and structural sexism. Platform operators have tolerated misogynist and gender-discriminatory attitudes from both internal settings and third-party users. The anti-feminist backlash has weakened commitments to addressing gender inequality and intensified gender war. The study recommends extending employment protection to creative platform workers and pursuing reforms in equality, anti-discrimination, platform regulation, and content moderation.","Work and Equalities Institute Research Briefing  \nProtecting Women’s Labour Rights in the Creative Platform Economy: The Case of South Korean Webtoons and Webnovels  \nDr.Ahlem Faraoun is Korea Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Geography, School of Environment, Education and Development, The University of Manchester.  \n [ahlem.faraoun@manchester.ac.uk](ahlem.faraoun@manchester.ac.uk)  \nSummary  \nThis research examines gender inequality in the creative platformeconomy, focusing on the experiences of webtoonists and webnovelists in South Korea. The study finds that female creators arehighly vulnerable to online harassment, discrimination and hatespeech, in addition to dealing with unequal pay and structural sexism.  \nPlatform operators have tolerated and condoned misogynist andgender discriminatory attitudes within their organisation and from thirdparty users. Furthermore, the anti-Feminist backlash has severelyweakened commitment to tackling gender inequality and fuelled genderwar. To address these issues, it is essential not only to include creativeplatform workers within the scope of employment protection, but alsoundertake reforms in the areas of gender equality and anti-discrimination, platform regulation and content moderation.  \nKeywords: platform work; gender inequality; creative work; webtoons; webnovels; women’s rights; labour rights  \n02  \nProtecting Women’s Labour Rights in the Creative Platform Economy: The Case of South Korean  \nWebtoons and Webnovels  \nFemale Labour in the Webtoon and Webnovel Industry  \nWebtoons (web cartoons) and webnovels are creative contents optimised for reading on a smartphone , published as weekly or daily series on digital platforms. These contents are monetised through a combination of adsupported free access and paid access (fixed fee per episode , time-limited pass , episode preview) . The market is dominated by the South Korean IT giants Naver and Kakao , whose main content platforms captured respectively 8.23 and 4.73 million users in 2023 (Jobst 2023) . The workforce is predominantly composed of freelance creators (artists , writers and illustrators) , who are excluded from the scope of employment protection. The industry is polarised between a few top earning creators and a large number of precarious creators facing substandard working conditions , many of whom are subcontracted by agencies known as Content Providers. Women constitute 68.4% of webtoonists (KOCCA 2023) and 53.8% of web novelists (KPIPA 2023) , corresponding to a broader trend of occupational segregation linked to structural barriers confronting women in the platform economy and beyond (Gerber 2022) . In recent years , women’s rights in South Korea have suffered a setback due to anti-Feminist backlash , exacerbated by the rise of far-right misogyny among young men since the 2022 presidential election. Far-right supporters deliberately conflate all types of Feminism with Radical Feminism , and claim that Feminism promotes reverse discrimination against men and female supremacy , some even likening it to Nazism (Kim 2023) . Digital platforms have been key sites for the expansion of anti-Feminism and the associated Manosphere , reflecting the global rise of misogynistic backlash (UN-Women 2025) . It is crucial to understand how these tendencies affect working conditions in the platform economy. Drawing on semistructured interviews and extensive secondary source analysis this case study raises important issues regarding women’s labour rights that are seldom addressed in discussions on platform work , particularly relating to harassment , discrimination and cyber-violence.  \n03  \nProtecting Women’s Labour Rights in the Creative Platform Economy: The Case of South Korean  \nWebtoons and Webnovels  \nGender Inequality in the Creative Platform Economy  \n(Left) Screenshot of a scene in the webtoon \"Romance 101 \". The character says “So just a little bit…!” while pinching his fingers for emphasis.  \nCredit: Namu","cbCaiomkBxooZHfL","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiomkBxooZHfL","pdf",1074159,3,1,12,"English","en",105,"# Summary\n# Female Labour in the Webtoon and Webnovel Industry\n# Gender Inequality in the Creative Platform Economy\n## Workplace Harassment and Discrimination","[{\"question\":\"What gender inequalities affect webtoonists and webnovelists in South Korea’s platform economy?\",\"answer\":\"Female creators face online harassment, discrimination, hate speech, unequal pay, and structural sexism, alongside heightened risk from anti-feminist backlash.\"},{\"question\":\"How do platform operators and third-party users contribute to gender discrimination?\",\"answer\":\"The research states that platform operators have tolerated misogynist and gender-discriminatory attitudes within their organizations and from third-party users.\"},{\"question\":\"What types of harassment target female creators, and how are platforms responding?\",\"answer\":\"Female creators are targeted with cyber-bullying including gaslighting, doxxing, stalking, and threats of violence. Platforms use minimal comment filtering focused on explicit obscene or violent terms, leaving many forms unfiltered and increasing stress and anxiety.\"}]","Protecting Women’s Labour Rights in the Creative Platform Economy - The Case of South Korean Webtoons and Webnovels | PDF",1787805238,30,{"code":4,"msg":32,"data":33},"ok",{"site_id":25,"language":24,"slug":34,"title":13,"keywords":35,"description":14,"schema_data":36,"social_meta":87,"head_meta":89,"extra_data":91,"updated_unix":29},"protecting-womens-labour-rights-in-the-creative-platform-economy-the-case-of-south-korean-webtoons-and-webnovels","",{"@graph":37,"@context":86},[38,54,69],{"@type":39,"itemListElement":40},"BreadcrumbList",[41,45,49,51],{"item":42,"name":43,"@type":44,"position":21},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":46,"name":47,"@type":44,"position":48},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":50,"name":12,"@type":44,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",{"item":52,"name":13,"@type":44,"position":53},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/protecting-womens-labour-rights-in-the-creative-platform-economy-the-case-of-south-korean-webtoons-and-webnovels/149668/",4,{"url":52,"name":13,"@type":55,"author":56,"headline":13,"publisher":58,"fileFormat":61,"inLanguage":24,"description":14,"dateModified":62,"datePublished":63,"encodingFormat":61,"isAccessibleForFree":64,"interactionStatistic":65},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":57},"Person",{"url":42,"name":59,"@type":60},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-08-31","2026-08-27",true,{"@type":66,"interactionType":67,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":68},"ViewAction",{"@type":70,"mainEntity":71},"FAQPage",[72,78,82],{"name":73,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":75},"What gender inequalities affect webtoonists and webnovelists in South Korea’s platform economy?","Question",{"text":76,"@type":77},"Female creators face online harassment, discrimination, hate speech, unequal pay, and structural sexism, alongside heightened risk from anti-feminist backlash.","Answer",{"name":79,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":80},"How do platform operators and third-party users contribute to gender discrimination?",{"text":81,"@type":77},"The research states that platform operators have tolerated misogynist and gender-discriminatory attitudes within their organizations and from third-party users.",{"name":83,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":84},"What types of harassment target female creators, and how are platforms responding?",{"text":85,"@type":77},"Female creators are targeted with cyber-bullying including gaslighting, doxxing, stalking, and threats of violence. Platforms use minimal comment filtering focused on explicit obscene or violent terms, leaving many forms unfiltered and increasing stress and anxiety.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":52,"og:type":88,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":59,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":90,"canonical":52},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":25},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":93},[94,98,102,106,111,116,121,123,128,131,135],{"id":21,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":95,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":97},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":48,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":99,"show_sort_weight":100,"slug":101},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":53,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":107,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":108,"show_sort_weight":109,"slug":110},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":112,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":113,"show_sort_weight":114,"slug":115},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":118,"show_sort_weight":119,"slug":120},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":30,"slug":122},"research-report",{"id":124,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":127},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":126,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":129,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":130},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":132,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":133,"show_sort_weight":132,"slug":134},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":136,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":137,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":138},19,"General","general"]