Either None or the Only Woman... The Glass Ceiling Remains Strong in Public Institutions under the Ministry of Industry

KOTRA (Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency) has only one female executive among its 1,300 employees. The number of female executives at KOTRA decreased from two in 2018 to one in 2019, and this single-executive status has been maintained through the first quarter of this year. Moreover, this executive was appointed externally as a non-standing (non-full-time) executive, not promoted internally. Among the 1,300 regular employees, 531 are women, accounting for over 40%.

Not only KOTRA but most public institutions under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) still have a strong glass ceiling. As of the 23rd, among 41 public enterprises, quasi-governmental institutions, and other public organizations under MOTIE disclosed on the public institution management information system Alio, eight have no female executives at all. These include Korea South-East Power, Korea Institute for Robot Industry Advancement, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, Korea Energy Information Culture Foundation, Korea Electric Power International Nuclear Graduate School, Korea Midland Power, KEPCO KPS, and KEPCO MCS, all of which had no female executives as of the end of the first quarter. Most of these are public institutions in the energy sector.

In particular, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power has no female executives despite having 1,859 regular female employees. Among its total workforce of 12,839, only 14% are female regular employees, and there is only one woman each in the managerial ranks 1 and 2, which are stepping stones to executive positions, indicating a low likelihood of female executives emerging through internal promotion in the near future.

Among public institutions under MOTIE, nearly half?18 institutions?have a single female executive, but most of these are non-standing executives without decision-making authority over regular operations. Among them, Kangwon Land and KOTRA each have only one non-standing female executive despite having more than 500 regular female employees. Internally, Kangwon Land has 32 women in managerial ranks (levels 1 and 2), and KOTRA has 42.

Public institutions under MOTIE with a higher number of female executives include Korea Gas Corporation, Korea Institute of Design Promotion, and Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology, each with five female executives. Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology and Korea Industrial Complex Corporation each have four female executives.

Companies are strengthening ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) management, and the Capital Markets Act mandates the appointment of female directors to prevent boards from being composed entirely of one gender, leading to an increase in female executives. However, public institutions with conservative organizational cultures remain reluctant to appoint female executives. Like general companies, public institutions with fewer female executives tend to have greater gender pay gaps and organizational culture imbalances.

The government is reportedly preparing to announce new regulations applicable from 2023 to 2027 to ensure that female talents are not marginalized in public institutions. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family recommended until last year that public institutions appoint at least two female executives, and this was reflected in the ‘Guidelines on Personnel Management of Public Enterprises and Quasi-Governmental Institutions.’

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