Achieving 10% Female Representation Among Senior Public Officials

4-Year Achievements in 'Enhancing Women's Representation in the Public Sector'
Senior Female Officials 6.7%→10.2%
Over 20% Female Section Chiefs in Central Ministries and Local Governments

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] The proportion of women appointed to senior public official positions has exceeded 10% this year.

On the 22nd, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family reported the "Four-Year Progress of the Plan to Enhance Women's Representation in 12 Public Sector Fields" to the Cabinet meeting.

The proportion of women among senior public officials has early achieved this year's final target of 10% (160 people). This is an increase of 3.3 percentage points from 6.7% in 2018. By operating the "Task Force (TF) for the Appointment of Women Senior Public Officials" and facilitating personnel exchanges, the number of ministries that did not appoint women senior public officials decreased from 10 in 2018 to 3 last year.

Looking at the implementation performance over the past four years, the proportion of women at the director level in central government headquarters and local governments, as well as female executives in public institutions, all exceeded 20%. The proportion of women directors in central government headquarters rose from 17.5% in 2018 to 24.4% last year, local government directors from 20.8% to 24.3%, and female executives in public institutions from 17.9% to 22.5%. Local government directors and managers of local public enterprises achieved their 2022 targets early despite raising their goals.

Public institutions such as public enterprises and quasi-governmental agencies have fully implemented the "Gender Equality Executive Appointment Target System" since 2019, increasing the proportion of female executives from 17.9% in 2018 to 22.5% last year, and female managers from 23.8% to 27.8%.

The proportion of female faculty members at national universities increased from 16.6% to 18.9%. In 2020, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family established a regulation to ensure that no single gender exceeds three-quarters, and specified annual target ratios to maintain the proportion of female faculty at around 25% by 2030.

The government committees also manage the participation rate of a specific gender at a standard of 40%. As of last year, the participation rate of appointed female members reached 42.4%. In the second half of last year, improvement was recommended to 105 committees where the participation of a specific gender was below 40%.

Minister Jeong Young-ae of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family stated, "Enhancing women's representation is a very important factor in promoting balanced and inclusive policy decisions, and over the past four years, policy achievements have spread from the central to local levels. Although the gender balance level in decision-making positions in the public sector is still low compared to major OECD countries, we will continue to promote the expansion of women's participation in the public sector and strive to ensure that these achievements spread to the private sector as well."

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