Since the early 1990s, automobile manufacturers in South Korea have had used subcontracting in parts of the production line to reduce production cost (referred to as in-house subcontracting). After years of union activism and protest, court ruled that a in-house subcontract worker should be hired as a regular employee for the first time in 2010. Since this ruling, multiple supreme court and court decisions reinforced that in-house subcontracting was illegal and all employees working in one production line should be regular employees. Some female workers who were in-house subcontract workers were transitioned to regular employment after such rulings. However, until recently, Hyundai Motors had not hired female workers through their regular employment process. In July 2023, female workers were hired as regular employees by Hyundai Motors production factory for the first time ever.