Reminder of president's promise for better gender representation

By Song Kyung-jin

One of my lifelong missions I feel is to continue addressing the perennial gender deficit Korea has been suffering from and thus the importance of promoting gender balance across all walks of life in Korea. The annual Global Gender Gap Report of the World Economic Forum (WEF) serves as a regular reminder for me not to forget that mission.

The WEF report gives rise, without exception, to an annual contest of pros and cons in Korea about its methodology and the index indicators for being too simplistic, failing to capture the gender reality more broadly. While such arguments deserve due respect, we must not lose sight that we are still lagging far behind our global standings in other indexes.

This year Korea ranked 99th out of the 146 countries surveyed, up three notches from 2021. However, a narrowed gap in educational attainment and health and survival has still not translated into a proportionately narrower gap in economic participation and opportunity as well as political empowerment of women.

While Korea is the world's 10th-largest economy, in women's economic participation and opportunity its place is found in the 115th rank. The gender pay gap is still one of the widest among OECD member nations at 31.48 percent, whereas Japan's is 22.52 percent.

A lower enrolment of women at only 25.22 percent in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) will likely play on negatively in reducing the gender pay gap, for STEM is the segment where more jobs are expected with the deepening of the digital transformation.

Insofar as the stubbornly gender-biased education system persists, the quality of jobs and the income to be held by women may persist equally stubbornly. Public-private partnership is called for urgently in overhauling the educational curriculum. President Yoon is emphasizing installing semiconductor programs at universities with a view to fostering more skilled workers to enhance the nation's competitiveness in semiconductors. This initiative looking into the future should ensure such programs be properly gendered.

Of all the indicators, the toughest hurdle for Korean women is found in their advancement to positions of legislators, senior officials and managers. Korea ranked 125th in this indicator. The Reykjavik Index for Leadership is a biennial report that examines society's perception of women and men's suitability to lead. Its 2021-22 version which researched 22 countries including all G20 countries found that Korea ranked the fourth-lowest scoring strikingly low at 53 points, 15 points below the G20 average. The three countries trailing behind include Russia, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.

On the question of whether or not women and men are perceived equally qualified for leadership, more Korean women than Korean men (60 versus 46 points) think so, while the G20 average is 71 versus 64 points. The 14-point gap is the second-widest next to Indonesia with a 15-point gender dissonance. The gap is even wider among young Korean men and women, at 16 points. Older Korean men (aged 55-65) are most prejudiced against female leadership out of the 22 countries researched. It clearly shows persistent, deep-seated prejudices against women in leadership and senior roles.

Changes are expected to come slowly in reducing the gender gap in political empowerment, too. According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) with a membership of 141 countries, Korea ranked 124th in the area of female legislative representation at 18.6 percent.

Many, including women themselves, tend to misjudge the gender-biased reality and even fail to properly calibrate the gender-promoting measures in place. Quotas are one example. Quotas have their own merits and demerits. Those against quotas often point out their adverse effect of solidifying the beneficiaries as a new interest group, discriminating against the rest. With all due respect, we are still at a critical moment where the gender parity quota outweighs such concerns to ensure more female participation. Quotas, inevitably, have a longer lifetime to stay put in Korea.

Being adequately equipped with a proper gender perspective is an essential prerequisite for a respected leader. He or she should be a champion of gender promotion in the government and society. The Yoon Suk-yeol government under heavy scrutiny both at home and abroad for the lack of female representation in the cabinet should listen to the zeitgeist of the 21st century and set a clear guideline for more female representation.

At the May 21 Yoon-Biden joint press conference, President Yoon promised to try to ensure very active opportunities for women to advance to ministerial positions in his cabinet. Yoon must live up to his words by searching widely for and appointing qualified women, morally and capability-wise. All hands will be on deck and all eyes will be watching around the world.

Dr. Song Kyung-jin (kj_song@hotmail.com) led the Institute for Global Economics (IGE), based in Seoul, and served as special adviser to the chairman of the Presidential Committee for the Seoul G20 Summit in the Office of the President. Now, she chairs the international cooperation committee called the Innovative Economy Forum.