South Korea's gender equality ranking falls - Building Gender Balanced Business

• The latest UN Development Program lists South Korea at 68th of the 108 economies ranked in terms of empowerment for women as measured by political representation, economic participation and earned income. The country fell four spots from the previous ranking.

• Nam Yun In-sun, chief of Korean Women’s Association United said, “Discrimination against female workers is rampant at workplaces, but the government isn’t doing much.”

• The news is not all grim. 42% of women applying for government posts were successful in 2004, compared with 23% a decade earlier, and the share of women in professional and technical fields more than doubled to 8.5% in 2003 from 4.2% in 1995.

• And change is under way, even if slow. The country ranked second in terms of the number of people who say they have seen greater equality for women in their lifetime.

The Joongang Daily article