Ministry of Economy and Finance Glass Ceiling Breakthrough Insufficient... Only 2 Women Promoted to Senior Positions in 5 Years

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] The glass ceiling within the Ministry of Economy and Finance remains intact.

According to the gender status of promotions to grade 4 and above over the past five years, submitted by the Ministry of Economy and Finance to Kim Kyung-hyup, a member of the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, only two female public officials were promoted to grade 4 or higher from 2016 to September 2020.

Out of a total of 130 promotions from grade 4 to grade 3 and from grade 3 to the Senior Executive Service, only two were women, accounting for just 1.5%.

Regarding this, the Ministry explained, "In the past (before the 37th Administrative Examination), there were so few female officials from the examination track that there were virtually no female assistant managers within the ministry."

However, even considering this, the result contradicts the Ministry’s July announcement to double the proportion of female executives in public institutions to 23% by 2022 to enhance social equity, as the Ministry is also responsible for managing and supervising public institutions.

Assemblyman Kim said, "The glass ceiling within the Ministry of Economy and Finance, which should serve as a model for public institutions, is still thick," adding, "The Ministry should take bold personnel measures that transcend seniority to actively support women's social advancement and play a leading role in realizing substantive gender equality."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.