Breaking the glass ceiling

The first female outside the founding Lee family has been appointed to presidency at Samsung Group. The executive-level reshuffle at Samsung Electronics included the promotion of Lee Young-hee, head of Global Marketing Office of the Device eXperience (DX) division, to the presidential title. Lee, a marketing officer recruited from L’Oreal Korea, has been responsible for the global marketing of the Galaxy phone series since she joined the company in 2007.

She moved up to the vice presidential suite in 2012, and has since been dubbed as a strong candidate to become the company’s first female CEO. Samsung Electronics said Lee’s promotion has paved the way for other female talents to strive toward executive positions.

The fact that Korea’s top company has generated its first female CEO only now implies how the glass ceiling remains high in the country. It should be both a celebration and a turning point. Korean females today are educated the same as males, but they still face harsh discriminations when they start career.

Landing a job can be harder for women. They must struggle to juggle between family and child care when they get married and have children. They can face disadvantages in appointments. Men today are welcome to apply for leave for child care. But men going on fraternal leave are still considered “courageous” compared to frowning toward women.

Data testifies to gender inequality. According to 2022 statistics, the female employment rate was 51.2 percent last year, far below 70 percent of male employment rate. The discrepancy continues after employment. According to a study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on income gap by gender among its member countries, the difference for Koreans was 31.1 percent, the largest among 39 OECD member nations. It was even higher than No. 2 Israel with 24.3 percent, Japan with 22.1 percent, and Latvia with 19.8 percent. Korea has topped the list since it joined OECD in 1996. The gender income gap by duty was also largest after Japan.

Korean women excel in many ways. The share of women passing the state exam for diplomats hit above 60 percent and the ratio of passing the exam for government posts of five-grade level is also above 40 percent. It has been widely known that more female graduates get accepted to large companies than males.

Society must provide equal opportunities to our daughters. Such efforts should be more strenuous from a country with the world’s lowest birthrate of 0.81. A large company promoting a female to the presidential level must stop making news in Korea anymore.