Financial Public Institutions' Glass Ceiling... Has It Now Become a 'Bulletproof Ceiling'? (Comprehensive)

Eight Financial Public Institutions Have Just Over 10% Women Including Non-Executive Directors
Government Includes It in National Tasks, Lawmakers Criticize but Progress Regresses
Experts Say "Male-Centered, Conservative Practices Are the Problem"

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-seop] It has been revealed that there is not a single female executive director among public institutions under the financial ministry. This points to the persistent and particularly rigid “glass ceiling” (an invisible barrier blocking women’s advancement to senior positions) in financial public institutions among government agencies.

The Glass Ceiling in Financial Public Institutions Has Become Even More Solid... Women Account for Just About 10% Even Including Non-Executive Directors

According to the latest executive status data disclosed by each institution on the public institution management disclosure system Alio as of the 9th, all 42 executive directors of eight Financial Services Commission-affiliated institutions?KDB Industrial Bank, IBK Industrial Bank, Korea Securities Depository, Korea Asset Management Corporation (KAMCO), Korea Housing Finance Corporation, Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency?are male.

Even including non-executive directors, only 9 out of 85 executives are women, accounting for approximately 10.58%. This slight increase was due to the Korea Housing Finance Corporation appointing lawyer Seo Chae-ran, who previously served as a senior administrative officer at the Blue House’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Secretariat, as a non-executive director last year.

By institution, KDB and IBK have no female non-executive directors, while Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, KAMCO, and Korea Housing Finance Corporation each have two female non-executive directors. Compared to a year ago, only Korea Housing Finance Corporation saw an increase in female non-executive directors.

The average proportion of women in regular and executive positions combined was 34.02%, up 1.08 percentage points from the previous year. The thickest glass ceiling was at the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, where only 714 out of 2,768 employees were women, making the proportion the smallest at 25.79%. The Korea Inclusive Finance Agency saw the largest increase in women, rising from 37.03% to 41.24% during the same period. IBK had the highest proportion of women among financial public enterprises at 46.65%, but this was a 0.3 percentage point decrease from the previous year.

Despite Inclusion in Government National Tasks and Lawmaker Rebukes... Financial Public Institutions Are Moving Backwards

Bae Jin-gyo, Floor Leader of the Justice Party
Photo by Kim Hyun-min

Financial public institutions have consistently been criticized for lacking efforts to improve the glass ceiling issue. Assemblyman Bae Jin-kyo of the Justice Party pointed out during the National Assembly’s October 2022 audit of the Financial Services Commission that “there were only two female executives in financial public institutions (as of 2019),” and emphasized the need for institutional improvements to increase the proportion of women in senior positions.

At the time, Assemblyman Bae strongly criticized, “The phenomenon of undervaluing women’s labor and treating women’s economic activities as secondary is clearly reflected even in public institutions,” adding, “We confirmed the issues of women’s career interruptions due to childbirth and childcare and the solid ‘glass ceiling.’”

Not only was the proportion of female executives low, but there were also significant gaps in wages and years of service. According to Assemblyman Bae, among women at grade 3 or higher?considered senior positions?only 899 out of 6,012 were women, accounting for 14.9%. The average years of service for female workers was 9.5 years, 4.9 years shorter than the 14.4 years for men. Women’s wages were only 71.3% of men’s.

The difference is also striking compared to other government agencies. According to the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family’s data on “Enhancing Women’s Representation in the Public Sector,” as of the end of the first half of last year, the proportion of female executives in public institutions was 20.8%, and the proportion of female managers was 25.6%. This is the result of the government establishing this as one of the 100 national tasks and implementing a five-year plan. It contrasts with other public institutions that have already achieved the 20% target by 2022 and are raising their goals.

Experts: "Male-Centered and Conservative Corporate Culture in the Industry Must Disappear"

The situation is similar when compared to private companies. According to a survey by global headhunting specialist Unico Search on female executives in Korea’s top 100 companies last year, there were 286 female executives, a 17.2% increase from 244 the previous year. Although the total number of executives decreased from 6,932 to 6,871, the number of female executives increased. Compared to 2014, when there were only 13 female executives, the increase has been rapid. There are 60 companies with female executives.

Experts and industry insiders attribute this to the male-centered and conservative practices still prevalent in the financial sector. A former female committee member of the financial labor union criticized, “Women are assigned to deposit operations or VIP customer management, while men mainly handle loan departments where performance is easier to achieve,” adding, “This division of experience creates differences when promoting to managerial positions.” This means that the mindset that women cannot be promoted to executives because they lack experience in major business areas like corporate credit is widespread.

Professor Lee Byung-tae of KAIST’s Department of Economics analyzed, “Finance is an industry with deeply rooted conservative culture, so women’s advancement has been quite delayed,” adding, “As a result, internal promotions have not been well executed, and efforts to recruit externally have also been insufficient.”

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-seop]

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