Public firms urged to break glass ceiling

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By Lee Kyung-min

A total of 129 public institutions will be required to set up plans to increase the number of ranking female officials, the government said Tuesday.

The move comes after a number of private firms are progressing towards gender equality, a much-prioritized value among leading global firms, especially in the financial industry.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance announced Tuesday its plan to revise ordinances on the operation of public institutions, under which a public firm must notify the government of how many female executives it will appoint over the next five years every year.

The revision will take effect in July after collecting public opinions for the next two months, and then public institutions will have to issue the first reports in April 2020.

Under the initiative, the ministry will require 129 institutions to submit a report with details, including the current male-to-female ratio, their performance result and a five-year female executive appointment plan.

The revision aims to increase the ratio of ranking female officials at these firms to 20 percent by 2022.

After it was announced in November 2018, the ratio has increased to 17.9 percent in 2018 from 11.8 percent a year earlier.

In the financial industry, a growing number of leading banks and securities firms have promoted women to executive positions over the past few months.

In January, former KB Financial Group and Kookmin Bank Vice President Park Jeong-rim, became KB Securities' co-CEO.

Earlier in December 2018, Shinhan Financial Group nominated two women to fill senior executive positions in 2019 ― Wang Mi-hwa and Cho Kyoung-sun.

The government's commendable move is heartening, but more concrete measures should follow to help guarantee the policy consistency, according to a senior industry figure.

“The government's move is definitely a step in the right direction, because more women in a male-dominated decision-making body means more diversity,” said Korea International Financial Institute (KIFI) CEO Kim Sang-kyung, who doubles as chairwoman of the Korea Network of Women in Finance.

Different perspectives helps invigorate healthy and constructive discussions, which in turn boosts productivity.

She pointed out that listening to a voice from a completely new perspective can help break notions and thought processes long considered right only because they had been never challenged, not because they are flawless.

“Diverse opinions from the top will set a tone that embraces and respects differences, thereby moving away from the conservative, top-down corporate culture that long dominated the powerful industries,” she added.