SNU to appoint 1st female economics professor
The main entrance of Seoul National University. Courtesy of SNU
By Kim Hyun-bin
Seoul National University (SNU) will appoint its first female economics professor since the department was established in 1946.
The economics professor will start teaching in September when the fall semester begins.
Currently, all 35 economics professors are male.
In 2009, SNU had a Chinese female assistant economics professor. She was SNU's first female assistant professor in the department. However, she left the institution in 2014.
SNU's department of economics has been criticized for having only male teaching faculty.
Its nickname was “no female school zone.”
On the other hand, SNU's school of engineering has 10 female professors.
“We have only accepted female applicants in line with the government's aim to boost gender equality,” said SNU.
It accepted applications in April. Three female applicants applied for the position.
“The previous selection criteria for the position of economics professor were based on research results, education and thesis. They were hired based on total scores so that might be the reason why there were no female professors,” said an official from the economics department at SNU.
“This time, not only because of the government's gender equality policy, but also we decided to hire a female professor to offer a variety of learning opportunities for our students.”
Also, SNU has not had a female economics professor because its department had mostly male students, the university said.
Currently, out of 875 undergraduate economics majors, only 287 are women.
Before 1990, female economic majors were less than 10 percent. Only a few went ahead with their masters' degrees, according to SNU.
In the 1990s, more female undergraduate students majored in economics, and more of them had moved ahead to pursue for their doctorates.
“In recent years, there have been more female applicants for positions as assistant professors,” said an official from SNU.
“With the rise of female economic majors, we are expecting an increase in economic professors who will be female in the coming years.”