Business circles maintain trend of expanding female executive promotions despite overall decrease in promotions

The Proportion of Female Executives Continues to Increase

Despite a significant reduction in the number of executive promotions among major domestic companies such as Samsung and LG, they are actively promoting female talent, suggesting that the number of female executives in the business sector will increase further in 2024.

Vice President Jeong Hye-sun, Executive Director Song Moon-kyung, Executive Director Lee Young-ah, and Vice President Jeon Shin-ae promoted in Samsung Electronics' 2024 regular executive personnel appointments

Samsung Electronics promoted a total of 143 executives this year, including 51 vice presidents, 77 general managers, 1 fellow, and 14 masters, which is 44 fewer (23.5% decrease) than last year's 187. Among the promoted executives at Samsung Electronics this year, 6 were women and 1 was a foreigner. The number of female and foreign executive promotions had maintained double digits annually?10 in 2020, 17 in 2021, and 11 in 2022?but dropped significantly this year. This decline is largely attributed to the overall reduction in the total number of executive promotions this year. However, Samsung plans to continue its commitment to building an innovative organizational culture based on diversity and inclusion.

Currently, excluding the owner family (Lee Boo-jin, President of Hotel Shilla), the highest-ranking woman at Samsung is Lee Young-hee, President and Head of Global Marketing at Samsung Electronics DX Division. After becoming the first female president in Samsung Electronics' 53-year history in last year's personnel reshuffle, Lee was the only Korean woman to be named one of Forbes' 'Most Influential Women in Asia' this year. The proportion of female executives at Samsung Electronics has steadily increased from 6.6% in 2020 to 6.8% in 2021 and 6.9% in 2022. Conversely, the female turnover rate has decreased from 9.2% in 2020 to 6.3% in 2021 and 5.9% in 2022.

The total number of executive promotions across LG Group, including LG Electronics, also decreased to 139 this year from 160 last year. The number of newly appointed executives was 99, down from 114 last year. Although the total number of promotions declined, the number of female executives promoted remained the same at 9. The head of HR, responsible for personnel within the group, is a woman. In this personnel reshuffle, Lee Eun-jung, Head of HR at LG Corporation, was promoted from general manager to executive director. Except for her, the other 8 general managers were newly appointed executives for the first time. The total number of female executives within LG Group has now reached 61, more than doubling from 29 in early 2019 over five years. The highest-ranking female executives currently in LG Group are Lee Jung-ae, CEO of LG Household & Health Care, and Park Ae-ri, CEO of HS Ad, both promoted to president last year.

Hyundai Motor and SK, which have yet to conduct executive personnel reshuffles, are also expected to promote women to executive positions. Hyundai Motor Group appointed 7 new female executives last year. The number of female executives at Hyundai Motor in Korea has steadily increased from 14 in 2020 to 15 in 2021 and 17 in 2022. As the proportion of female employees rose from 8.6% in 2020 to 9.0% in 2021 and 9.6% in 2022, the pool of potential female executive candidates has expanded.

SK has also opened the path for women to reach higher positions. Chairman Chey Tae-won stated, "Organizations with diversity have productivity that is 20-30% higher." In last year's personnel reshuffle, 13 women were newly appointed as executives, increasing the number of female executives from 27 in 2020 to 34 in 2021, 43 in 2022, and 50 in 2023.

With the business sector adopting a meritocratic approach to promotions regardless of gender, age, or nationality, the proportion of female executives is likely to continue rising. According to Unicosearch, a global headhunting specialist firm, as of the end of the first half of this year, the number of female executives in the top 100 companies by sales increased by 36 (8.9%) from last year to 439, accounting for 6.0% of the total 7,345 executives. It is expected that the number of female executives in the top 100 companies will exceed 500 around 2025.

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