Women's forum in Seoul spotlights lagging female empowerment, Korea's gender equality challenges
Published: 03 Feb. 2026, 17:50
Updated: 06 Feb. 2026, 00:49
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- LEE SOO-JUNG
- [email protected]
![Participants and panelists of the International Women’s Forum’s (IWF) Korea Global Women Summit take a group photo in central Seoul on Feb. 3. [INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S FORUM KOREA]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/02/06/34a4bcbd-3fde-4db9-9cb4-35c1c86a252f.jpg)
Participants and panelists of the International Women’s Forum’s (IWF) Korea Global Women Summit take a group photo in central Seoul on Feb. 3. [INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S FORUM KOREA]
"Previously unthinkable breakthroughs in science have become almost routine, even mundane, and creativity continues to flourish, and the world feels ever smaller in all of this dramatic change," Winthrop said at the International Women’s Forum’s (IWF) Korea Global Women Summit held in central Seoul. "[However], one thing remains constant, and that is the struggle to see women equally represented in positions of power in politics, academia and businesses."
The summit, hosted by the IWF Korea branch, marks its second edition since last year's inaugural event. The organization, as a global community, supports women's leadership across various sectors with 77 branches in 35 nations and 8,000 members worldwide. Margaret Thatcher, Britain's first woman prime minister, and former U.S. secretaries of state Madeleine Albright and Hillary Rodham Clinton are listed in the IWF’s International Hall of Fame.
Tuesday’s event, co-organized by the Irish Embassy in Korea, was attended by some 120 female entrepreneurs and professionals in managerial and executive positions.
![Irish Ambassador to Korea Michelle Winthrop speaks during the International Women’s Forum’s (IWF) Korea Global Women Summit held in central Seoul on Feb. 3. [INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S FORUM KOREA]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/02/06/0caaed9b-1639-4158-9e7b-7295a9b26173.jpg)
Irish Ambassador to Korea Michelle Winthrop speaks during the International Women’s Forum’s (IWF) Korea Global Women Summit held in central Seoul on Feb. 3. [INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S FORUM KOREA]
“If you want to understand how inclusive a society is, watch how those who arrived last with the least power and at the most at stake are treated,” Mot He-yonn, Marie Claire Groupe’s chief representative officer in Korea, said.
During her speech, Mot said migrant women married to Korean men remain one of the most structurally invisible groups in our society, despite their number, adding that their "invisibility is no longer accidental."
There were 145,731 migrant women married to Korean men as of 2024, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics. Nearly one in every 10 marriages was an international marriage in that year.
“Nearly 30 percent of married migrant women participate in no social or economic networks,” Mot said. “They earn an average of 35 percent less than their male counterparts, which makes their gender pay gap wider than the national average, which is already the worst among OECD nations,” Mot said.
Korea’s gender pay gap was 29.3 percent in 2023, the highest among OECD member states. The OECD median was 11 percent.
Mot, who settled in France about three decades ago when Korean culture was deemed peripheral, urged Koreans to adopt a progressive attitude of embracing differences as “assets” that translate cultures, connect markets and create value between nations.
“Immigrant women are not a weakness in the system," Mot said. "They are the connective tissue of the global future. But the global future depends on who we — as leaders — hire and on whose voices we decide to include.”
![Panelists of the International Women’s Forum’s (IWF) Korea Global Women Summit speak during the event's discussion session in central Seoul on Feb. 3. [INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S FORUM KOREA]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/02/06/cd6ba621-0e20-4108-8276-1b0b65139ae7.jpg)
Panelists of the International Women’s Forum’s (IWF) Korea Global Women Summit speak during the event's discussion session in central Seoul on Feb. 3. [INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S FORUM KOREA]
Lee Kyoung-sook, a director of the Gender Equality Policy Office from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family who delivered a message from the minister, said Korea needs to tear down the “cultural barrier” of gender imbalance.
“Getting rid of cultural and structural barriers that hinder female empowerment is directly linked to national competitiveness,” Lee said. “In line with such an effort, the ministry will push an initiative disclosing income and employment status between genders across public and private sectors starting this year.”
Other women panelists agreed that female empowerment is more than inclusion and a channel for boosting economic productivity and raising GDP.
“While women take up 50 percent of the world's population, they only contribute about 35 to 37 percent of the global GDP,” said Huh Kum-joo, the founder and president of IWF Korea.
“According to reports from McKinsey, the global GDP can grow by 20 percent if we utilize the resources of women as much as we do with men today.”
![Huh Kum-joo, the founder and president of International Women's Forum Korea, speaks during the Global Women Summit held in central Seoul on Feb. 3. [INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S FORUM KOREA]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/02/06/599e93be-83f3-4ad4-aa85-f1aa4146fb34.jpg)
Huh Kum-joo, the founder and president of International Women's Forum Korea, speaks during the Global Women Summit held in central Seoul on Feb. 3. [INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S FORUM KOREA]
Ireland saw a significant advancement in female representation on the boards of listed companies, increasing from 18 percent in 2018 to 42 percent in 2024, according to an annual report from the Balance for Better Business (B4BB), an independent business-led Review Group established by the Irish government to improve gender balance in senior leadership.
In contrast, the equivalent ratio among Korea’s 500 largest companies was at 8.1 percent last year, according to data posted on the state-managed electronic disclosure system and an analysis by private company Leaders Index.
Andrea Dermody, a consultant who led the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives at B4BB alongside Irish corporations, said gender quotas are not a solution to solve gender inequality.
“There is nothing more powerful in terms of influencing business leaders, making them share each other’s practices and what they have gotten [than encouraging businesses to voluntarily participate in DEI initiatives],” said Dermody. “Quotas do not change the culture."
During the event, designer Woo Young-mi, a member of IWF Korea and who has run two separate fashion brands for decades in the spirit of motherhood, also underscored women’s capability in terms of “soft power and tolerance.”
Update, Feb. 5: Added speech by designer Woo Young-mi.
BY LEE SOO-JUNG [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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