The situation of women in South Korea - Building Gender Balanced Business

An important divide between the public and the private sector

The public sector

• In 1996, the government installed a quota: at least 30% of all people joining government departments (the police and military notwithstanding) had to be women.
• In 2003, the government was forced to install an identical quota for men because women were too successful when competing for the jobs.
• There are two main explanations for this dramatic evolution:
  The South Korean government has been actively trying to spread democracy after a history of military rule.
• The government has also understood that injecting educated women into the work force has a positive effect on both the country’s economy and its birthrate.

The private sector

• A third reason could be the difficulties women experience in the private sector.
• Women do not even represent 2% of the seats on the boards of South Korea’s four largest corporations.

Overall, the situation remains pretty bleak

• In 2007, South Korea had the lowest employment rate for women with college degrees of all OECD countries.
• 90% of all people who were forced out of wore by the current recession are women because they often hold most of the low-level and part time jobs.
• Only 45% of working-age women were employed in January, as opposed to nearly 70% of men.
• South Korea ranked 115th in the World Economic Forum’s 2009 index of gender equality, despite being one of the world’s largest economies.

The New York Times describes