Women in South Korea Break New Ground: Female Execs Hit 8.1% Milestone!

The percentage of female executives at major South Korean companies reached a record 8.1 percent in the first half of this year, but an overwhelming majority of these women remain on the sidelines of actual decision-making, serving either as outsider directors or non-board members, data shows.

An analysis of 376 of South Korea’s top 500 companies by revenue, conducted by corporate tracker Leaders Index, revealed that 1,210 out of 15,016 executives were women. This marks the first time female representation has surpassed the 8-percent threshold, more than doubling from 3.8 percent in 2019.

The number of female directors has been steadily increasing since the implementation of the revised Capital Markets Act in August 2022, which prohibits companies from forming boards of directors composed entirely of a single gender.

The report highlighted that sectors closely tied to consumers had a higher percentage of female executives. These include household goods (19.5 percent), pharmaceutical products (19 percent), the services industry (13.2 percent), and food and beverages (13.1 percent).

However, the ratio of female executives remained notably low in traditionally male-dominated sectors such as construction (3.7 percent), shipping and machinery (3.3 percent), and energy (3.6 percent).

A very few are inside directors
The majority of new female executives were either non-board members or outside directors, referring to individuals who are not employees or shareholders of the company. While they have equal rights as other directors in board meetings, their influence on day-to-day company decisions is limited as they are not official employees.

From 2019 to the first half of this year, the number of registered female outside directors skyrocketed from 38 to 292. Unregistered executives — high-level employees with executive positions who are not listed in the corporate registry — increased from 457 to 866 during the same period.

Approximately 15.1 percent of the female unregistered executives were inside directors, and only 52 women among the board members held inside director positions. Notably, fifteen of these women were related by blood to the owner families of the companies.