Why does Korea have no female bank presidents?

Half of bank employees in Korea are women, but the proportion of female executives versus male counterparts in the four major Korean banks of Kookmin, Shinhan, Woori and Hana is less than 1:20.

Among 56 banking executives who were women, all of them were directors. Despite the country electing a female president, the glass ceiling in Korean finance remains strong against women.

○ No female VP in four major banks

The Korean financial industry on Sunday said 48 percent of regular employees of the four banks were women. Though the number of female staff has been increasing, the proportion of female executives remained a low 4.8 percent. No woman was a vice president, just 11 female directors.

According to the Employment and Labor Ministry, 6.5 percent of executives of conglomerates with more than 1,000 employees were women. This shows that banks have fewer female executives than other industries.

○ Will the glass ceiling break in the era of Park Geun-hye?

The financial sector is focusing on any signs of change in the glass ceiling with Korea`s first female president to take office late next month. It is expected that more women will be promoted to managerial positions, eventually leading to more female executives.

One of President-elect Park`s campaign pledges was a project to nurture 100,000 high-quality female staff, and this is expected to raise the number of female executives in banking. A bill was recently submitted to the National Assembly to increase the proportion of female executives to 30 percent at state-run companies and quasi-government institutions over five years.

Kwon Seon-joo, vice president of Industrial Bank of Korea, said, “Female executives will assume bigger roles in the banking industry, with the era of a female president serving as a turning point.”

crystal@donga.com