Cracks in Korea's Glass Ceiling

by Chung Hyo'n-gon

Is it reasonable for a person to be treated differently from another only because of the gender, even though they worked for the same time in the same position? Most people would say, "NO". But in Korea not a few people would say, "YES." In Korea, since traditional times, females have confronted many more barriers than males have in their workplace and even at the present they don't seem to have equality of opportunity with males. However, in the future there is a ray of hope for female workers.

In the past, Korean female workers underwent gender discrimination in terms of wage and occupational classification. According to the report released by the Korea Development Institute (KDI), titled "Difference and Discrimination of Wage by Gender," in 1975 female workers earned only 41.2 percent of what male workers did. Moreover, it was hardly possible for a woman to get a managerial position in a company. No matter how great ability they had, it was unthinkable for a female to play a role of the CEO (Chief Executive Officer). Most female workers were supposed to do trivial things for their seniors such as running errand or making dozens of cups of coffee and copies of information sheets since most people in high positions-obviously males-thought that females were not eligible to be in charge of important work. Female workers were unable to change the situation at once; therefore, they had to bear it.
Currently, as for women's status in the workplace, it is found that females still suffer from gender discrimination. One example of the fact that female workers are not equal to male is that many companies tend to lay off female workers when the companies' businesses have trouble. Even though the current regulations on gender equality prohibit companies from allowing any kind of gender discrimination in any case, the reality is far from what the regulations pursue. According to a Web site, Womenlink, Samsung Life Insurance fired 1,200 female workers in 1998 when Korea was in economic crisis and the necessity of restructuring was growing; comparing to the fact that only 500 male workers were laid off at that time, it must be a case of gender discrimination. Another example indicating the barriers that female workers are facing is the number of female senior government officials. According to the Civil Service Commission (CSC), females account for only 4.4 percent of central government employees at fifth level or higher. The two examples - sacked female workers by Samsung Life Insurance and the number of female senior government officials - show that Korean society has the same problem as it had about 30 years ago.

Despite the fact that women are still not totally equal to men in the workplace, there is a ray of hope for female workers. There are hopeful signs for female workers: the growing realization of the importance of the utilization of female workers in the nation's economy and the realization of the fact that gender discrimination is a cause of the current employment discrimination, which, in tern, is a barrier to the use of human resource effectively. Recently, media and government have been trying to promote the active utilization of female workers in order to make the country more competitive. For instance, in January 2001 the Ministry of Gender Equality was launched and in the second half of 2001 a modified maternity protection law was established to make female workers eligible for three months of paid maternity leave and one year of leave for bringing up their children with a monthly salary of 200 thousand won. It is prescribed in the rules that employers have to provide female workers with all the previously mentioned benefits such as the paid maternity leave and the one-year of leave for bringing up children with a monthly salary of 200 thousand won. Such awareness in Korean society and efforts by media and government are thought to help the equality of gender.

Thanks to the realization of the importance of utilization of female workers and the harmful gender discrimination, the status of female workers is improving not in all aspects but in some ways. One example indicating the improving status of female workers is the narrowing wage gap between male and female workers. Even though women are still being paid far less, the wage gap has been narrowing dramatically since 1970s. As presented in the previously mentioned report, the average of women's monthly earnings was 41.2 percent of the average of males; the report also says that the average of women's monthly earnings increased to 52.4 percent in 1989 and 63.1 percent in 1999. Indicating the same phenomenon, according to the Korea National Statistical Office (KNSO), the average wage of female workers was 64.8 percent, or 954,292 won, of males' in 2000. Based on the current change in the workplace in Korea such as the realization of the importance of utilization of female workers and the narrowing wage gap, it is expected that the improvement of female workers' status will accelerate in the future.

These days gender discrimination might be one of the most frequently discussed subjects in Korean workplace. Not only in the past but also at the present are female workers suffering from discrimination in terms of wage, position and dismissal. However, there is a ray of hope for the female workers due to the fact that Korean society has realized the importance of utilization of female workers and is trying to use females as a human resource. Surely, the improvement in gender equality will make Korea more competitive.