Glass ceiling still thick in financial sector

By Nam Hyun-woo

The number of female executives, CEOs and board members in the financial sector in Korea still remains low, data showed Tuesday, proving the so-called glass ceiling is still prevalent among banks and other financial businesses.

According to seven banks operating in Korea, the number of female executives (vice presidents or higher) stood at seven out of a total of 113. The banks included were KB Kookmin, Shinhan, KEB Hana, Nonghyup, Woori, SC and Citibank Korea.

Banks have their own criteria over which pay grade they call “executives,” but the general proportion of female executives remained at a low level, especially at domestic banks.

Among the Korean banks, KB Kookmin Bank was the only one having a female executive, Park Jeong-rim. Four were at Citibank and two were at SC Bank, both foreign-owned.

The situation for women is harsher in state-run financial institutions. There were only three women out of 84 CEOs, full-time board members and executives at 10 public financial institutions, including Korea Development Bank (KDB) and Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK). IBK has its chief Kwon Seon-joo and executive Kim Sung-mi, while Korea Asset Management Corp. has executive Heo Eun-young.

Non-banking financial companies also show a similar tendency. According to a survey conducted by the Korean Finance and Service Workers’ Union, 29 of a total of 670 (4.3 percent) executives were female at 40 credit card companies, asset management firms and savings banks.

Except for foreign firms, only nine out of 572 executives (1.6 percent) were women, despite the total portion of female workers at 71 companies under the union standing at 43 percent.

“Sex discrimination begins at early the stage of hiring,” an official at the union said. According to her, only 20 percent of new hires for regular jobs are women, but women hover over 90 percent when it comes to temporary jobs.

“Many female workers suffer a career disruption because of bearing and rearing children,” she said. “The government should come up with a policy that can ease female workers from the burden of childbearing and rearing and measures that can get rid of sex discrimination in the workplace.”

The financial sector is not alone, as all business sectors in Korea lack female leadership. Korea’s female proportion was the lowest among 30 OECD members.