"Career Breaks Burdened Only on Women in the High-Speed Race of Advanced Industries"

"The economic activity participation rate graph for ordinary women usually shows an 'M' shape, but advanced industries, where the pace of technological change is very rapid, exhibit an 'L' shaped curve, making it difficult to return after career breaks. Utilizing female STEM personnel and strengthening the reintegration of women who have experienced career interruptions is one way to address the manpower shortage in advanced strategic industries."

Moon Aeri, Chairperson of the Korea Foundation for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology (WISET) (photo), said this in an interview with Asia Economy on the 12th, addressing the issue that female talent utilization in advanced industries is not properly implemented in South Korea. Although the government is focusing on nurturing talent in advanced industries, the utilization rate of female STEM personnel is very low, and combined with career interruptions due to pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare, it is difficult to effectively utilize female talent.

Chairperson Moon stated, "There is a leakage in the career pipeline of female industrial technology personnel, so their proportion in the corresponding age group decreases as age increases." She explained, "For STEM majors, while men maintain an economic activity participation rate of about 95% from their late 30s to late 50s, women's participation rate drops from 72% in their early 30s to 61% in their late 30s, and the decline is not properly recovered after their 40s."

She estimated the number of female STEM professionals with career interruptions at 188,000, which is four times the recent projected shortage of science and technology talent (47,000 from 2024 to 2028). She added, "Especially in the rapidly changing ICT industry, the proportion of female personnel sharply decreases from 63.9% in their mid-20s to 17.8% in their 40s."

As a solution, she advised strengthening policies and systems that prevent women's career departures in advance by fostering a work-life balance culture such as flexible working environments, and establishing and effectively utilizing re-education systems including new industry and technology training for career transitions.

Chairperson Moon emphasized, "The organizational culture of our industrial sector, which has many large companies in advanced industries, must be improved." She said, "Companies, as groups that generate profits through performance, should not simply think of hiring female personnel as a concept, but recognize that utilizing female personnel (creating value through diversity and inclusion) leads to greater achievements." Referring to the ‘Matilda Effect’ coined by science historian Margaret Rossiter, she noted, "Although this is true overseas as well, in South Korea there is a strong tendency to recognize men's contributions more than women's when achievements are made in advanced industries." She explained, "An organizational culture that acknowledges women's achievements and provides corresponding rewards must be established, and companies need to make efforts to develop female personnel into managerial positions." The Matilda Effect refers to the tendency for women's achievements to be overlooked or unrecognized due to being overshadowed by men.

Since her appointment as WISET Chairperson in November last year, Moon has focused her work this year on promoting programs to prevent career interruptions and support career re-entry for women in science and technology. WISET is conducting ▲ programs to expand female STEM participation through STEM career camps and mentoring ▲ career transition and specialized training programs to help female personnel enter advanced industry jobs ▲ activities supporting substitute personnel to prevent vacancies caused by parental leave ▲ and research and development (R&D) career re-entry support projects for women in science and technology. She also expressed hope that more women would actively utilize these programs.

Chairperson Moon said, "The Global Gender Gap Index published by the World Economic Forum (WEF) evaluates economic participation and opportunity among other criteria, and South Korea ranks 105th out of 146 countries, dropping from 99th last year, placing it in the lower tier." She added, "This reality is why WISET must implement projects such as substitute personnel support and R&D career re-entry support." She is also dedicating efforts to establishing the ‘5th Basic Plan for Supporting Women in Science and Technology,’ which forms the foundation for nurturing and utilizing female scientists and engineers. Marking WISET's 10th anniversary this year, the first Korea Women in Science and Technology Conference will be held in November, designating this year as the inaugural year for the advancement of women in science and technology.

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