産 業 關 係 硏 究

第24卷 第4號, 2014. 12. pp.29~54

ⓒ 韓 國 雇 傭 勞 使 關 係 學 會

논문접수일 : 2014년 8월 29일, 심사의뢰일 : 2014년 9월 29일, 심사완료일 : 2014년 10월 14일

** (주 저 자) 전남대학교 경영대학 경영학부 조교수, 062-530-1421, msjun@jnu.ac.kr

** (교신저자) 한양대학교 경영학과 부교수, 02-2220-2595, slim@hanyang.ac.k

産業關係硏究 제24권 제4호

Skill Formation and Career Development of Master ~ (Myung-Sook Jun ‧ Sang-Hoon Lim)

Skill Formation and Career Development of Master Craftswomen in the Korean Clothing and Textile Industry

Myung-Sook Jun* ‧ Sang-Hoon Lim**

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate clothing and textile craftswomen's unique skill and career development mechanism, which is quite different from those of professional women in a firm's internal labor market. During their childhood and youth, the craftswomen first acquired their basic skills from family members. In the heyday of the industry, the craftswomen did not work for large companies but were engaged in one of three types of economic activities: running their own shops for patrons, organizing small home teams for production, or specializing in overseas orders. These activities shared a common characteristic-the craftswomen were responsible for every step of the production process from conception to execution. This comprehensive experience resulted in their skills being upgraded; however the crisis of the clothing and textile industry in the mid-80s and the 90s finally provided the craftswomen with opportunities to upgrade their skills to mastery level. This crisis led the craftswomen to grasp the importance of design and further articulate their encompassing knowledge and skills. This, in turn, enabled them to produce high-value-added products and handle artistic/creative works.

The career development pattern of the craftswomen is similar to the portfolio career development of atypical professionals, such as freelancers. The craftswomen actively constructed social networks by attending formal educational institutions and informal social gatherings.

▶ Keywords: Korean clothing and textile industry, craftswomen, skill formation, career development

Ⅰ. Introduction

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that there is a skill and career development mechanism for successful craftswomen that is quite different from that of professional women or women who work in offices. This study argues that there is no single model of skill accumulation and career development; rather, there are different types of models aside from the model based on a firm's internal labor market. This study aims to shed light on the process of the skill and career development of craftswomen that has been unexplained by existing studies and to specifically define their status in the labor market.

For the purpose of this study, "internal labor market" indicates a market where wage and labor allocation are determined by a company's rules and processes (Park, 2013).

Despite the steady rise in women's educational attainment in Korea, it is still extremely difficult for women to be successful in the labor market. Thus, existing studies that have attempted to explain women's success in and exit from the labor market have focused on clarifying certain qualifications that are required for them to survive in the market. The qualifications, however, seem to be difficult for most women to attain. Thus, most of the studies tend to emphasize institutional or policy support to help women achieve successful skill and career development.

Recently, many studies have focused on successful women workers in offices or professional positions within a company. According to the studies, women that work in professional positions or offices become successful when they go through the career development cycle of high skills and high wages in a firm's internal labor market (Kim, Yang, Bae & Lee, 2012; Geum & Yun, 2011; Hwang, 2003). Those studies have argued that the absence of career interruption is the major factor that affects women's ability to succeed.

In contrast to the studies that attempt to understand the factors that impact women's success, studies investigating successful craftswomen in Korea are extremely rare. This is particularly so for the clothing and textile industry, which is the industry in the case studies reviewed in this paper. Very few studies have explored the conditions or mechanisms through which craftswomen in this industry have become successful. This stands in stark contrast to the enormous contribution that female clothing and textile workers have made over the course of Korea's industrial and economic development. In the 1960s and 1970s, the clothing and textile industry led export-driven economic growth, and women workers comprised the main body of employees in that industry as they were low-wage production workers.

Although textile product manufacturing (code 13) and garment product manufacturing (code 14) are separate from each other under the Korean Standard Industrial Classification, this study sees them as one, under the title of "clothing and textile industry."

That situation caused many studies that investigated clothing and textile workers to focus on two topics. One topic was the poor working conditions that most of these women experienced (Lee, 2008; Seon, 2011). The other topic was the women's labor movement against low wages and long hours (Jeong, 1985; Park, 1988; Jeong, 1993; Bang, 1994; Chun, 2000). This tendency has hardly changed to this day when the subject is women in manufacturing. Moreover, in reality, even as more women have become involved in broader industries and different types of employment, working conditions have not improved very much for most women in manufacturing.

This study dealt with the largely ignored success cases of women in the clothing and textile industry and it analyzed a skill and career development mechanism in which social networks play an important role for master craftswomen's sucess (hereafter craftswomen). This analysis investigated whether or not the characteristics of craftswomen's skill and career development are very different from those of women who work in offices or professional women.

Ⅱ. Literature Review

Women's active economic participation and high educational attainment diversify research on female labor. More women enter increasingly diverse fields, including not only manufacturing but also service jobs. Recent studies have also focused on female labor in professional or office positions.

However, female workers still encounter barriers when returning to and rebuilding their careers if they stop working due to challenges in their work-life balance. When they leave a firm and experience a career interruption, they lose the chance to upgrade their skills. Studies on female labor have repeatedly demonstrated that, in a labor market with a deep-rooted gender division of jobs, women in heavily female-dominant jobs find it difficult to become successful by developing their skills and their careers. The best example of this would be studies on low-skilled women's jobs or women who return to inferior jobs with lower wages and less stable employment status after a career interruption (Choi, 2009; Lee, 2004; Jeong, Kwon, 2012; Kim & Baek, 2012).

Female clothing and textile workers in Korea would find it difficult to upgrade their skills even if they entered an internal labor market. According to Doeringer and Piore (1971), firms equip their workers with firm-specific skills and that implies the possibility that unskilled or semi-skilled production workers will be able to upgrade their skills over time. Male workers are likely to be included in the internal labor market and acquire firm-specific skills. However, such a possibility is rarely found for women in the clothing and textile industry.

Studies on the skill development of female clothing and textile workers in Korea show that gender plays a critical role in upgrading firm-specific skills (Kim, 2005; Lee, 2008; Seon, 2011). The clothing and textile industry grew rapidly after the 1950s in Korea. Female workers did not receive sufficient opportunities while male workers entered a company's internal labor market and upgraded their skills.

The gender division of jobs also differentiated promotion opportunities. While male workers were given promotion opportunities that ensured their career development in a company, women were not because their work was considered secondary. For example, at weaving factories men were in charge of repairing machinery and maintaining facilities while women were limited to weaving (Lee, 2008).

This resulted in low wages for female workers and high turnover. Since the mid-1960s, the women's turnover rate in the clothing and textile industry has been close to 40%, which made it more difficult for female workers to develop skills in a company. This also limited their influence on labor unions. The male-centric unions were not interested in improving women's working conditions or in addressing the gender wage gap (Seon, 2011).

Meanwhile, large companies in the industry accelerated automation. This made it more difficult for women workers to acquire knowledge and skills spanning the entire production process (Kim, 2005). As Braverman (1984) argued, automation that is designed for mass production and mass consumption tends to lead female workers to learn the skills necessary to perform certain specified tasks instead of learning about the entire production process. This would only allow most female workers to attain partial techniques in a few process steps rather than advancing their overall competence.

Those studies cited above imply the possibility that a certain group of women are able to upgrade their skills and develop their careers outside of a clothing and textile company. If women workers are able to advance their skills and their careers, they would not be affiliated with a company. This leads to the hypothesis that women working outside a business organization could become successful because they would be exposed to and understand the entire working process from conception to execution.

The following chapter analyzes the mechanism by which craftswomen develop skills and careers in the clothing and textile industry. The analysis examines whether that mechanism can be differentiated not only from the mechanism used by professional and office women but also from the mechanism used by female workers in a company. In addition, this study explained the skill accumulation process for female workers by adopting the skill classification system developed by Perrow (1967). He defined skill as "the action performed by an individual upon an object, with or without the aid of tools or mechanical devices in order to make some change in that object" (p. 195) and classified skill into four groups. The routine, craft, engineering, and non-routine skills were categorized using the following two criteria: the diversity of the work (related to the frequency of exceptions or the degree of homogeneity) and the absence or presence of analyzable problems (the degree of difficulty in finding solutions to problems that occurred in the course of performing the work).

Routine skills involve clearly defined tasks and high likelihood of problems being solved.

Master skills involve low likelihood of problems being solved, and thus can be applied to crafts or shoemaking sectors that rely heavily on individual experience.

Engineering skills involve a high level of task diversity and also a high probability of successful analysis and can be solved through certain processes or techniques.

Non-routine skills involve a high level of task diversity and low likelihood of problems being solved, requiring both experience and technical knowledge to solve problems. They mostly apply to basic science research or sophisticated strategic research.

Ⅲ. Skill Accumulation and Career Development of Master Craftswomen

1. Methodology

The main methodology of this study is a case study on master craftswomen in the Korean clothing and textile industry. Since the Korean Master Craftsmen System was introduced in 1986, 524 craftsmen have been designated as masters as of 2013 (23 of the original 547 craftsmen are deceased; of the deceased, one is a woman). Of the 524 living craftsmen, only 30 are women. The distribution of expertise among the female masters shows that nine are experts in hanbok (traditional Korean costume), three in knitting, eight in embroidery, one in bamboo craft, six in beauty, one in floral design, one in food, and one in textile processing. In Korea, the term master craftsmen refers to outstanding skilled craftsmen, as designated by the Ministry of Employment and Labor, who have been engaged in their respective occupations for more than 15 years and who have contributed to the improvement of the status of skilled craftsmen. Since 2013, master craftsmen in Korea have been presented with certificates signed by the president of Korea.

Until 2011, there were 167 occupations in 24 fields. But as of 2012, they were combined into 96 occupations in 22 fields. Knit fabric is no longer included as a separate field of occupation for Master Craftsmen.

To be selected as a master, a craftsman must have extensive experience in his or her field and his or her skillfulness must be recognized by a group of experts. Thus, the designation as a master can be taken as an objective measure of successful career management and a high level of skill.

This study's participants included six master craftswomen from in the clothing and textile field (hanbok, embroidery, and knitting), which is the area of expertise of most of the master craftswomen. The subjects are listed in <Table 1> and in-depth interviews were conducted.

Interviews were conducted in the form of one-on-one interviews between the researcher and the master craftswomen, mostly at their private studios. Each session lasted around two hours, and all of the interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. In this study, the analysis was primarily based on the information obtained from the recorded interviews, and the original data was maintained as faithfully as possible, although with slight corrections for the purpose of better description.

<Table 1> Case Study Subjects

No.	Name	Year of Birth	Year of Selection	Expertise	Education at entry into the labor market (Final)
1	IA	1948	2006	Knitting	Primary school (middle/high school graduation equivalent certificate)
2	IB	1931	2000	Knitting	University (university)
3	IC	1936	1997	Hanbok	Primary school (lifetime learning center)
4	ID	1950	1998	Hanbok	Primary school (PhD)
5	IE	1945	2009	Embroidery	Primary school (dropped out of university)
6	IF	1944	1996	Embroidery	High school (college degree)

The focus of this study is to identify the mechanism that led to these master craftswomen's success in the labor market by asking the three questions. First, they were asked whether they had received formal training at vocational training institutes before the 1980s, or if they had received any job training as an employee of a company. They were also asked about the process and conditions they experienced related to acquiring and improving their skills, and whether they had been able to upgrade their skills and advance their careers during the period of restructuring in the clothing and textile industry that began in the late 1980s. Lastly, they were asked to talk about how they developed their careers and to identify the resources they used for that purpose.

The responses to these questions were validated by the primary and secondary literature regarding the skill and career development of the craftswomen's contemporary female workers in the clothing and textile industry. Meanwhile, studies on male technicians in the clothing and textile industry since the Korean liberation to the 1970s were also used to verify the master craftswomen's responses.

2. Process of Skill Accumulation and Career Development

To understand how the master craftswomen (hereafter craftswomen) acquired their skills and developed their careers in the clothing and textile industry, this study looks at the skill-accumulation process in two stages. The first stage is when the craftswomen entered the labor market and developed their skills at the time in which the Korean clothing and textile industry was growing. The second stage is when they upgraded their skills in step with industrial restructuring.

(1) Skill accumulation during the Korean clothing and textile industry's growth

Formation of basic skills

The Korean clothing and textile industry began its growth spurt in the 1960s after the country's post-war recovery in the 1950s. The craftswomen were able to continuously improve their skills from the 1960s, when the clothing and textile industry established itself as the core engine of the national economy, until the mid-1980s.

However, since the craftswomen did not hone their skills in the factories of the large companies that led the industry's growth as a whole, how did the craftswomen in the case studies initially acquire their basic skills? They revealed that they acquired the initial skills training they needed to engage in economic activities at home in an informal training setting.

They stressed that they learned by imitating family members, mostly their mother or grandmother, without receiving formal or special training. As such, the craftswomen learned their basic skills in sewing and knitting from family elders, such as their mothers. This means that before entering the labor market, most of them had already acquired the necessary basic skills through an informal channel. Without exception, they also disclosed that they had good hands even when they were very young and they were deeply interested in sewing or knitting.

"My maternal grandmother was so good with the needle. They said if you're doing the outer robe in men's hanbok (traditional Korean costume), that means you're really good...I've seen it since I was very young. I would dabble at it during school breaks or when I was visiting with my grandparents, and my mother was also sewing. So I was always...I started out making stuffed animals." (ID)

"I think I was well off when young. I'm grateful for that now. I began this work not because I was poor but out of interest, and lineage, if I can call it that. I think I got the talent from my maternal grandmother." (IF)

"I was very good at knitting since I was very young. I would be knitting fingered-gloves at around seven, and not only that but I was also good at sewing, and like embroidery...My mother was very talented." (IA)

Most of the craftswomen had to start working after they graduated from elementary school in order to contribute to their family's finances because their fathers had been injured, or due to business challenges. Most had started working before the age of 20, on a small scale to assist the family's livelihood, by receiving simple orders from people in the neighborhood.

They kept working even after marriage because many of them had to fill the role of the family's breadwinner (as discovered in the case studies). Some of the often-cited reasons for this include: "Husband's financial incompetence", "husband's lack of responsibility to family", or "supporting the son who fails to set himself up". While the women who worked at large factories experienced a career interruption from the company due to marriage or childbirth, the craftswomen had to become even more active in the labor market after marriage because of their family's financial difficulties.

"My husband was not around, and he sailed in ocean liners so he had to be away quite often..."(IC)

"He (husband) should have gotten a job....So I would open his wallet and if he didn't have 100,000 won-it was big money then-I would fill it with 100,000 won. I didn't want to hurt his pride, so I didn't' even ask if he was out of money, I would just open it and fill it..." (ID)

"My husband died of illness early, and I had to educate my son. At first he was talented in music so that's what I had him learn..." (IA)

For these craftswomen, the causes of financial stress, such as marriage and childcare, were strong motivators to stay economically active. However, while "financial need" or "talent" were, no doubt, important aspects, what made it possible for them to turn simple work that started out with basic skills into a main form of livelihood was the social demand created by the clothing and textile industry's growth. The following section provides a review of the process by which the craftswomen were able to advance from their initial, basic skills to improved skills, which enabled the development of their full-scale commercial activities as the social demand for their crafts continued to grow.

Improvement of skills for commercialization

The clothing and textile industry has become the core export driver for the Korean economy since the late 1960s. Exports in clothing and textile products had an enormous impact on the national economy; they began to grow rapidly in the late-1960s, stayed brisk throughout the 1970s, and still comprised 15% of total exports in the early 1980s.

The clothing and textile industry not only led job growth, it also provided tremendous employment opportunities for women. Throughout the 1970s, employment in the clothing and textile industry represented over 20% of total employment, peaking at 25.3% in 1975. Women comprised a sizeable majority of the workforce in the clothing and textile industry, exceeding 80% at its peak in the mid-1980s (Jun, Hwang & Hong, 2007).

Although the clothing and textile industry accounted for a large share of Korea's national economy, it was not accompanied by a corresponding value-added perception. This is because rather than developing their own brands and producing premium products, the large exporters relied on production and sales strategies based on price competitiveness that was enabled by low-wage, low-skilled female labor.

More specifically, Korean exporters served as contract manufacturers for Western countries with high labor costs, receiving OEM orders and then manufacturing the goods at low costs. This resulted in a production method similar to the conveyor-belt assembly line, made up of a limited number of process steps to be repeated endlessly to produce large quantities of standardized products. The female employees at large export factories who led the clothing and textile industry at the time were not able to grasp the entire manufacturing process. They repeated certain tasks over and over again. While the required level of skills was not high, speed and the specialized skills required to fulfill limited roles were reserved for workers with seniority.

As for the domestic market (centered on the Dongdaemun and Namdaemum markets), the clothing and textile products primarily consisted of low quality and low priced goods, with limited variety. Moreover, most of these domestic products were made in small factories, and the women working at those companies formed a large segment of the low-skilled worker group.

The process by which the craftswomen started their economic activities and improved their skills was formed during the time when the boom in garment products occurred in both the domestic and export markets. However, the content of their work was different from most of the women who worked at large exporter companies or in small domestic shops. To be more specific, the craftswomen were not part of a production process that required only limited skills.

The most noticeable and unique aspect of their skill-building process is the fact that they directly experienced the entire production process; they also engaged in diverse tasks. The craftswomen were able to acquire a high level of problem-solving skills and they performed diverse tasks during all steps of the process, from conception to execution. As such, they were able to participate in the production of goods in three important ways.

First, many of them ran tailor shops for domestic clients and improved their comprehensive skill-sets. This is a particularly important characteristic for the craftswomen who created hanbok or knit fabrics. Up until the 1960s, and even until the 1970s, there was a demand for hanbok across all generations. This created diversity in the demand for hanbok, along with a growing demand for Western clothing. There was also a sizeable customer base for tailor-made knit garments, not only clothing but also hats. Demand was strong from both the domestic market and the overseas market. One craftswoman who relocated to Seoul noted that she had had a brief experience of being employed.

One Master Craftswoman ran both a hanbok shop and a tailor shop for western suits at the same time.

"At that time, if you were working at the office you would get about 18,000 won. And they recruited me for 45,000... (But) I quit after two years." (IA)

She did not like the company's business strategy of using loans; however, more than anything, she did not like the mechanical way of working. She decided to set up her own shop, thinking "I would be better off doing my own work". This set her on a path of acquiring the skills to perform conception and execution, and she was able to handle diverse tasks related to production.

Next, some craftswomen formed a work team at home (rather than setting up a shop) and they ended up acquiring and improving their comprehensive skill-set. This was a major arrangement in the field of embroidery. One woman describes how there were many orders from individuals in the 1960s and 1970s through the folding-stand mutual aid club, which was in fashion at the time. The folding stand was an important part of a bride's dowry until the early 1980s, and a hand-embroidered folding stand was much more expensive than a machine-made one. Single women of marrying age would form folding-stand mutual aid clubs to prepare for their dowry in advance.

Diversity in tasks is found in the field of embroidery as well. At that time, it was common to receive orders from exporting companies for hand embroidery to be placed on Japanese kimonos and to do the work at home. There was a particularly strong demand for embroidery for Japanese kimonos in the 1970s and the early 1980s, and it was coveted work for craftswomen because it paid well. Thus, the same people would work on folding stands or Japanese kimonos.

"My own aunt also went for Japanese embroidery (after working on folding stands). Because it paid better than Korean hand embroidery or folding stands. So they (talented people) would go back and forth." (IE)

Third, one craftswoman targeted not only domestic clients but also the export market, combining production and sales in her own business. She first got started with a small shop in Myeongdong (a popular shopping district), where she tailor-made items for private customers. As her business prospered, she began to receive more orders and she had to expand her shop. In the process of expansion, she simultaneously ran her private shop and a knit-fabric academy, and she hired the graduates as her production workers. Consequently, she began filling not only domestic demand orders but also orders coming from abroad, obtaining firsthand experience in the production and sales of a broad range of products.

"We even held fashion shows then for export products. 15 times. Export garment fashion shows..." (IB)

She received orders from countries like the U.S., Japan, and her business continued to grow, so much so that at one time in the 1970s she had six overseas branches (in Paris, Washington, New York, San Francisco, Hong Kong, and Tokyo).

Although the three modalities explained above are dissimilar from each other, they each commonly demonstrate that the craftswomen had a different path for skill-building than women employees at export or domestic factories. Unlike factory employees, the craftswomen were able to exercise the skills necessary to engage in the entire production process through team-based or individual work, rather than only acquiring parts of the entire skill-set. Thus, they were able to keep upgrading their craftsmanship across the entire production process while female employees engaged in production at factories made up a low-wage, low-skilled workforce with limited career development opportunities.

To sum up, in order to meet diverse market needs the craftswomen advanced from basic skills in which they performed simple tasks that required a low ability to solve problems to higher level skills that required the ability to solve more complex problems. However, although their skill level has grown from its most basic level and was quite different from the skill level of the women in the factories, it was still limited in terms of qualitative change. This is because most of their work was performed within the limitations of time and cost, and they were still focusing on production with the main goal of commodification that was very different from the mechanized mass production found in the large clothing and textile companies.

However, they soon welcomed the opportunity to further upgrade their skills. The qualitative change in the skills of these craftswomen (which would elevate them to the level of master) came during the turning point for the clothing and textile industry in the 1990s and 2000s.

(2) Skill accumulation during the clothing and textile industry's restructuring: Upgrading to the level of master

The Korean clothing and textile industry has faced a crisis since the late 1980s. This is because the industry-leading large exporters were losing the cost competitiveness they had enjoyed, which had been mostly based on the use of low-wage workers. The causes of that weakening competitiveness were many and varied, and included such things as the protectionist import restrictions by developed countries, the rise of low-wage emerging economies like China and Thailand, the rapid wage increase in Korea, and the depletion of low-wage labor pool in Korea (Jun et al., 2007).

Industry-wide troubles kick-started restructuring in the late-1980s. Many exporters chose a global outsourcing strategy, relocating their production base overseas to overcome the weakening cost competitiveness. This led to a series of factory shutdowns in Korea and a sharp drop in employment in the clothing and textile industry. Employment in the industry stood at 334,300 workers in 1988, but by 1990, that number was nearly halved, to 198,800 (Jun et al., 2007). This employment decline continued into the 2000s.

The craft sectors were also hit hard by changes in the industry environment. Overseas orders for Japanese embroidery expanded to countries like China and Vietnam when companies were in search of lower labor costs, while the domestic market was awash in low-end machine-made embroidery products. Meanwhile, the demand for hanbok was also seeing a decline due to the fact that women were beginning to prefer ready-to-wear and more active clothing.

The crisis of the clothing and textile industry brought on since the late 1980s also had a significant impact on the craftswomen. While they had to struggle with worker shortage during the growth period, they now had to withstand demand shortage as the industry went through restructuring.

As the craftswomen were experiencing changes in the external and internal industry environment, they began to alter the course of their existing economic activities. In the course of their own transition, they also began to upgrade their own skills in a qualitative manner, developing design skills and diversifying their tasks to bring their designs to life.

The craftswomen's new types of economic activities can be classified into three categories. The first activity is small quantity batch production, making high-quality pieces for a select clientele. The second activity is artistic creation. The craftswomen would produce highly artistic works, not for sale but to be submitted to exhibitions or competitions. The third activity is going into a new line of work.

Each of these categories is explained in more detail below, followed by an analysis of the mechanism of their upgrade to higher problem-solving and creative skills in response to the industrial crisis.

Small quantity batch production

First, many craftswomen improved their skills based on the strategy of small quantity batch production. It has been argued that small quantity batch production by multi-functional skilled workers would be a critical production strategy to overcome or complement mass production (Piore & Sabel, 1984). Korean craftswomen also solidified this strategy when the clothing and textile industry driven by mass production and automation had come to a crisis. They were able to implement this strategy thanks to the continuous demand for their goods from the long-standing clientele that appreciated their craftsmanship.

One craftswoman noted that it is nearly impossible to standardize hand-made work into a manual.

"....It would vary so much by hand. Tight hand, slow hand, depending on that, it would be different by 5cm or 20 cm, even...depending on (the person's) hand...So you need to have the feel for it, to do it bigger or smaller (than what is in the manual)."(IA)

She said that even during the industrial crisis, she was getting orders not only inside Korea but also from overseas customers, introduced by existing clients. Because these were high-end products that were custom-made for a few clients, she would invest a lot of time and work into each piece, and the few discerning clients were willing to pay a high price.

This small quantity production of high-end products for mostly long-standing regular clients brought about an interesting upgrade in the craftswomen's skills. They developed their own designing capability to productize their creative ideas and techniques, which upgraded their overall skill level. For example, some would design and productize children's clothing, an unexpected line of new business (as quoted hereunder). The aforementioned craftswoman is now engaged in both hand-made and automated production. While she still designs and produces her own works, she also has her son mass-produce some products based on her ideas and designs.

"From the young to the old, they all come. Those who are well-to-do...two generations or three generations. The grandmother used to come, then the mother and then the daughter, then her children....Children's clothes are so much fun." (IA)

As such, the first type of skill improvement during the industrial crisis was small quantity batch production, under which the craftswomen were able to continuously improve their designing and production techniques to meet the demands of a few personal clients.

Personal artistic work

Next, some of the craftswomen upgraded their skills through personal artistic work. Unlike the small batch production, the purpose of this approach is not sales, but personal artistic activities and exhibitions. The craftswomen learned new designs to improve their artistry and they upgraded their skills to materialize the designs. The shrinking market for demand-driven production left them with opportunities to focus more on their own creative pursuits, which resulted in higher and better skills.

"The 80s is gone and there are no more people...since the 90s, the folding stand industry has been declining. We used to do a lot of such meticulous embroidery of beautiful landscape...Whether it's going to be peacock, white crane, apricot flower, or whatever you wished, you would try different patterns. We had some room then (in terms of time)... (If not) I would've fallen out of embroidery. Because folding stands were disappearing." (IE)

Not satisfied with the market's judgment, these craftswomen actively entered into competitions to receive recognition for their work. Their award-winning record led to more opportunities in broader creative fields. For example, one craftswoman who earned the Korea Traditional Craftworks Exhibition award participated in productions for major international convention halls or architecture.

"The Korea Traditional Craftworks Exhibition is run by the state, and all craftspeople dream of receiving awards there. I failed the first two tries, then I submitted three or four pieces and each won some kind of award. Then I kept winning awards....Then I was appointed as an assistant teacher for the training of Nationally Designated Important Intangible Cultural Property." (IF)

Meanwhile, those who could gain diverse creative opportunities, thanks to their award-winning record, were able to expose themselves to different designs, for which they tried to acquire the necessary skills. This in turn led to further skill upgrades. A good example was in hanbok; the craftswomen who achieved recognition for their artistry were invited to participate in relic restoration projects.

Such projects gave them the chance to learn designs and sewing techniques they had never accessed before. Relic restoration projects involved a number of different activities, such as repairing or restoring the costumes excavated from old graves, remaking traditional-style hanbok based on the findings, creating new designs out of restored costumes, and submitting them for exhibitions. Thus, these projects give the participants, especially the craftswomen, valuable opportunities to further enhance their skills.

"If it's a big tomb they're excavating, it's most likely that of a rich family. Probably some high-ranking officials or influential people. So, the relics found there are all exquisite. The length of the stitch. The stitch length is exactly one strand apart...So it's just extraordinary. Even to our eyes. We are used to working with sewing machines, so it would be quite hard to do it like that." (IC)

One hanbok craftswoman emphasized that she was able to keep improving her skills by participating in the relic restoration projects. She noted that it has been said that there are 86 types of sewing techniques for hanbok, and she had only found 50 types so far.

"They don't even think about finding them. Nobody talks about the 86 types. They just teach you running stitch, overcast stitch, or ssamsol (similar to the French stitch), that's about it. They use these three types to sew long or short, and make one hanbok with that. But that's not what it's about. In the old days there were so many more techniques. I'm going to find the remaining 36 types...So, whenever I hear about some old costumes being excavated, I am there." (ID)

These craftswomen also participated in international fashion shows, international fairs, hanbok fashion shows, or cultural exchange events in relation to their creative activities. Through these events, they developed works based on new designs and honed the skills necessary to bring them to life. In the end, personal creative activities were an important mechanism for them to upgrade their skills to the level of the master craftswoman.

Advancing to new fields

Lastly, there were also cases in which the craftswomen upgraded their skills by transitioning to new fields. For example, one craftswoman who achieved financial success and recognition as a master in the field of knit fabric was faced with diminishing demand. She was able to keep improving her skills by entering a new field, quilting, by leveraging her domestic and overseas networks.

"Quilting is putting together pieces. I was in Pennsylvania (on a business trip). I fell upon a piece that had the exact same pattern as the Korean wrapping cloth. When I saw it I thought, 'Oh, there is a chance. I want to introduce Korea's wrapping cloth to the world.'...It's been about 10 years now, and I think there's been a little bit of progress." (IB)

She thought that the wrapping cloth, bojaghi, a combination of Korean women's manual dexterity (knitting and sewing skills) and traditional five colors, could be seen as a work of the quilting arts that is unique to Korea. Moreover, the variety would be much richer since, unlike in other countries where they use only cotton or wool for quilting, Korea's bojaghi is made of cloths of the four seasons.

Thus, this case study subject ended up joining a field that was already well known throughout the world but was relatively new in Korea. In leveraging the traditional object of bojaghi, she was also able to actively engage in international networking in her newly chosen field.

"...(At a fair), all these quilters from the world would come. I would do some bartering in the beginning. You take what you like, and send me one of your quilts...When I was opening the museum (some guests came from abroad, and a famous quilter) said in her congratulatory speech, I know of Korea thanks to her'...and donated (her own work)." (IB)

Having joined a new field through social networking, such as participating in exhibitions of quilt, this craftswoman was given the chance to combine her existing manual skills with creativity. That is, by linking the creative designs required in the new field with a higher level of manual techniques, she was able to upgrade her skills to the level of a master with higher artistry.

(3) Master craftswomen's career development: Atypical portfolio career
development

The craftswomen in the field of clothing and textile show a career path much different from the one taken by most of the female production employees in factories. During the clothing and textile boom, the craftswomen chose to pursue their own businesses instead of working in large companies that had automated mass production. In addition, during the industrial downturn, they even more actively improved their skills and developed their careers.

The craftswomen in this study all commonly improved their skills and broadened their careers during the 1990s and 2000s when existing demand was shrinking. They broke away from the existing self-owned business model, participating in exhibitions or creative works. They also expanded their careers by entering different arenas depending on their own interests and aptitudes, or by serving as adjunct professors at universities, lecturers at lifetime learning centers, curriculum evaluators for vocational schools, museum directors, or advisors for historic TV dramas.

The type of career diversity maintained by the craftswomen cannot be placed in the same category as the conventional upwardly-mobile model of career development common in organizations. Rather, it is more akin to the model seen in atypical occupations, such as freelancers. Recent studies have shown that atypical workers tend to develop their careers by filling out a portfolio (Park, Hwang, Kim, Lee, Jun & Chai, 2012). As is the case for the craftswomen, the non-working period for freelancers provides them with an important opportunity to further shape and develop their careers ( Hwang, Kwon, Kim & Nam, 2009).

For the most part, career development has been perceived as the process of growing responsibility or authority and increasing wage level based on work performance or years in service gained in an organization. However, related studies have shown increasing diversity in career development paths as well as types of employment. Freelancers or the self-employed, for whom creativity and independence are important, tend to display the strategy of managing their portfolio by engaging in a wide breadth of opportunities. Because the craftswomen reviewed in this study also share those features, their career paths can be classified as the atypical portfolio career development model.

This study has shown that both formal and informal social networks have served as a core resource for the craftswomen's abilities to broaden their careers. These resources are analyzed further in the following section.

Formal social network: Educational institutions

The craftswomen built their social networks using formal education institutions. That type of social network became an important resource for their career development as the clothing and textile industry went through a transition.

Most of the craftswomen reviewed in this study had a very strong desire for education, but they had to leave school early due to their family's financial situation. When they had more financial means and time, they acquired additional formal education and became connected to other experts in related fields.

While, on the one hand, furthering their education was motivated by the personal desire to study, it was also part of their career strategy. Many of them chose educational institutions, around which expert groups are formed, as a way to acquire the social resources necessary to more actively leverage their skills. For example, one craftswoman observed that although she hardly learned anything new at the school, her degree served as the bridge to something bigger.

"How it served as a bridge was...It was the department of home economics (at Open University) and they taught you all kinds of things. From food to all kinds of things, and for hanbok they only taught you how to make men's pants. Men's pants, 1/4 the full size, that's what I had to turn in...Easy as a pie. But, thinking back now, I think I was able to go to graduate school because I graduated from the school...(That's how I got to meet experts). I'm still friends with the professors then." (ID)

Most of the craftswomen were able to broaden their social network by attending international fashion shows or fairs or by participating in the relic restoration projects through the relationships that they had built at the school they had attended. That broader social network also gave them more access to information in related fields.

Formal education institutions gave them more opportunities and access to information in new fields by enabling them to network with other experts, which allowed them to keep advancing their skills and their career throughout the clothing and textile crisis. By leveraging the resource of social network, they could develop premium products with a new design, engage in more artistic creations, or transition to different production fields as existing demand began to shrink.

Informal social network: Social gatherings

Just like other atypical occupational groups, the craftswomen also built social networks through informal social gatherings. In particular, those who did not have sufficient formal education tried to compensate for what they believed were their lack of skills by developing and maintaining informal networks.

One craftswoman who has been serving as the leader of a craftswomen's social club for six years especially highlighted the importance of information exchange.

"We get together every three months. Once we get together, we spend one night. At the host's house. We travel around, and if the host is in Busan we get together in Busan...We stay awake all night, making one piece until 5 in the morning...we judge each other's work and laugh together." (IC)

She tells the story of how she shared her own special techniques in making rush straw pillows when the group members stayed over at her house.

"Nobody makes rush-straw pillows like they used to. I boil straws and use them. Nobody uses them anymore. You don't just make them, you put the straws in salt water to this height, then you cut them and put them in salt water. You let them seep and they get wet. It's salt water so it's seasoned...Then I use these for the stuffing (they all) stayed up working on it...They were all hard at work, eager to learn." ((IC)

Another craftswoman is involved in regular information exchange meetings, which are differentiated into two types: one with high-class crafts people of similar caliber, the other with lower-skilled crafts people whom I teach.

"We exchange (information). It makes it so fun. We need (hanbok) accessories so some would teach how to make them. And last time, it was about making collars. And if it's about the garment itself, I would handle that...People come (to the get-together) because they learn something." (ID)

It appears that such informal gatherings also played a role in work distribution. By the nature of their work, a significant amount of joint effort is required, and if someone wins a big project, she would share the work with others in her informal network. As can be surmised from the quote below, informal social gatherings are places where information about work and people are exchanged and work is distributed.

"(When I won a big project) I said 'Oh, even if I don't do the entire work, **region's people had to do it.' So, I distributed even my own portion of the work. (If I handled everything) they would've said 'she's young and she wants too much for herself.' I had to be fair to keep people from complaining." (ID)

Meanwhile, informal networks also occurred when the participants could benchmark the activities of the other members. Given that they do not have career ladders to climb (unlike wage workers who belong to organizations), the craftswomen would obtain career development ideas by observing the activities of others.

"It's actually not easy for us to be professors (lecturers or guest professors) even when we're invited to. You get paid for the day, but if you're away then you can't do your own business for the day. (So, I would try to stay away as much as possible) but others thought differently...I get messages (on the phone) on so-and-so becoming one... (I became interested, too)."(IA)

"A master has to have some sense (of marketing or design) because you're in an industry. We masters are not good at marketing...(So, I get information through get-togethers)...(I see what others have done and) I thought, 'Oh, if I'd known it a bit earlier, I would've done something like that." (IF)

As reviewed so far, most of the craftswomen sought to develop their careers through informal networks with other craftspeople and they honed their skills through various practice opportunities. This demonstrates that informal networking was essential in the career and skill development of clothing and textile craftswomen. Conversely, it indicates that more public mechanisms should be provided for career development and training for craftswomen to enable them to be successful in the labor market.

Ⅳ. Conclusion

Craftswomen in the clothing and textile industry are high-skilled workers who have gained recognition for their craftsmanship based on their problem-solving skills and creativity, according to Perrow's (1967) classification. However, this study has shown that craftswomen were not exercising that mastery from the beginning; rather, they started out with basic skills that were gradually upgraded to the master level. In the beginning of their skill development stage, they only had a low level of skills, which they had acquired through informal channels. Those skills were sufficient enough for them to solve uncomplicated problems and produce everyday products.

This study can not be generalized as for all Master Craftswomen, as it was the case of only small numbers of Masters in the field of clothing and textile industry. Accordingly, we need to collect more such success cases from the various fields in order to suggest concrete arguments for the skill formation and career development of Master Craftswomen in general.

A number of important conditions drove these craftswomen to improve their basic skills and those aspects helped them acquire higher skills which, in turn, enabled them to engage in full-scale commercial activities. First, they were able to experience the entirety of the production process. The craftswomen analyzed in this study largely engaged in economic activities in three modalities. Whether running their own shop, producing goods out of their homes using a small team of craftspeople, or filling overseas orders through their personal shop, they all commonly had to handle all of the steps of the production process, from conception to execution. Through that comprehensive experience they were able to upgrade their skills.

The crisis in the clothing and textile industry, which emerged in the mid-1980s and which remained in full swing into the 1990s, provided the clothing and textile craftswomen with the chance to upgrade their skills again. Demand from both the export and domestic markets was shrinking. It was also becoming more difficult to fill those declining orders because of rising labor costs. However, this crisis led the craftswomen to be engaged in producing high value-added products or creative works, which upgraded their skill level. The craftswomen enhanced their design ability and furthered their manufacturing skills by participating in a series of artistic activities, such as entering competitions or displaying their work at exhibitions or in fashion shows. Those activities enabled the craftswomen to further articulate their encompassing knowledge from conception to execution.

The career development pattern of the clothing and textile craftswomen is similar to the portfolio career development found among atypical professionals, such as freelancers. This study shows that the craftswomen were actually more active in developing their careers during the industrial restructuring period. With less demand coming from the market, they were able to solidify their social networks as well as their reputations by engaging in long-desired education or creative pursuits. They also leveraged social networks, an important resource for their career development, in the form of informal social gatherings and strategic participation in activities at formal educational institutions.

The craftswomen built their social networks in part through formal mechanisms. Networks based on formal activities not only broadened their chances of getting work, they also led to increased demand through design development. Informal networking also helped the craftswomen upgrade and diversify their skills and advance their careers to higher levels. These aspects offer an important implication for career development in atypical occupations. Public goods, such as institutional or policy support of education, training and so on, must be supplied adequately if people in atypical occupations are to build and utilize social networks.

The importance of public goods is also illustrated by the craftswomen's concerns about the future of the clothing and textile industry. They commonly point to problems in transferring skills, uncertainties in career development paths, and issues in creative work and product development based on craftsmanship. These are issues that cannot be addressed by individuals. Solutions to these issues should be formulated by the joint efforts of all the stakeholders and they should be institutionalized as public goods. As such, specific policy recommendations and collective efforts are left as subjects for future studies.

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abstract

여성명장의 숙련형성과 경력개발:

의류 및 섬유산업을 중심으로

전 명 숙․임 상 훈

본 연구의 목적은 의류 및 섬유산업의 여성 명장에 대한 숙련형성 및 경력개발과정을 보여주는 데 있다. 성공한 생산직 기능인인 여성 명장의 경우, 전문직이나 사무직 여성과 구별되는 독특한 숙련 및 경력개발 메커니즘이 있다. 여성 명장들은 초기에는 비공식적인 가족 영역에서 익힌 기본적인 기술수준에서 시작하여 점차 장인적 기술로 업그레이딩하게 된다.

초기 단계의 기본적인 기술이 숙달된 기술로 발전한 데는 중요한 요인이 있었다. 공통적인 여성 명장의 특성은 대기업 생산 공장에 취업하여 기술을 익힌 것이 아니라 제품 생산의 전 공정을 경험하는 방식으로 본격적인 경제활동을 하였다는 것이다. 개인 가게를 운영하면서 영업활동을 하는 방식, 가내에서 소규모 작업팀을 구성하여 생산하는 방식, 혹은 개인 가게를 운영하는 한편 해외기업으로부터 직접 주문을 받아 수출활동에 참여하는 방식이 있다. 여성 명장들은 구상과 집행을 통합하는 작업과정에 참여한 경험이 있으며 이 과정에서 초보적인 기술은 숙달된 기술로 발전하였다.

1980년대 중후반을 거쳐 1990년대부터 본격적으로 전개된 의류 및 섬유산업의 위기는 오히려 여성 명장들에게는 장인적 수준으로 숙련을 업그레이딩할 수 있는 계기가 되었다. 이 시기 동안 여성 명장들은 디자인 기능이 결합된  부가가치 높은 작품이나 개인 작품 활동에 주력하였다. 1990년대 이후 여성 명장들은 각종 대회에 작품을 출품하거나, 전시회나 패션쇼에 참여하는 등, 일련의 예술적 활동을 통해 창의성에 기반한 장인적 기술을 더욱 향상시킬 수 있었다.

여성 명장들이 보여준 경력개발은 프리랜서 등 최근 비전형적인 직업군에서 확대되고 있는 ‘포트폴리오 경력개발’ 유형과 그 특성을 공유하고 있다. 여성 명장들의 경력개발에 중요한 자원이 된 사회적 네트워크는 비공식적인 친목모임뿐만 아니라 공식적 기구에 대한 전략적 참여를 통해 확대되었다.

주제어: 여성 명장, 의류 및 섬유산업, 숙련형성, 경력개발