Leadership in Action: Issues and Observations - For Women Leaders in Korea, Gains but Miles to Go

GRIM PICTURE

However, we need to be wary that the amount of media attention given to these appointments does not give a distorted perception of how fast women are advancing in Korean society. Despite these new developments women are still very much underrepresented in leadership positions in the public sector. Women make up only 2.7 percent of civil servants in the top four tiers of the ranks, whereas women constitute 32.9 percent of the total public sector workforce.

In the private sector the picture is even grimmer. There are only twenty-nine women executives in the ten biggest companies in Korea, including Samsung, LG, and Lotte. This means women hold less than 2 percent of the executive positions in these companies. Although women in Korea ...