More women to get high-ranking positions

Government-affiliated committees will be encouraged to increase their quota of women members to 40 percent, as part of efforts to boost female participation in policymaking.

The Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said Friday that the government will have more female high-ranking officials at ministries, public companies and other state-run agencies.

It is part of a five-year master plan for a policy on women, which will be implemented from 2013.

“Women still face a glass ceiling regarding promotion. The ratio of executive-level women in both public and private sector is very low, and this low ratio is lowering the nation’s whole gender equality level,” a ministry official said.

Females constituted over 30 percent of positions after 2002, but this figure dropped to 26.3 percent in 2010 and bounced slightly back to 29 percent in 2012.

It will also recommend ministries and government agencies to have at least one female executive-level official each. As of the end of 2011, 52.2 percent of them didn’t have a single female executive.

“For senior-level officials who are lower than executives, we have had the goal of filling 10 percent of the positions with women, but the ratio currently stands at 8.4 percent. We’ll encourage government organizations to have more female senior officials, while setting up a new goal early next year,” she said.

However, the measures are not binding but are intended to serve as recommendations.

“To make public agencies take the measures seriously, the government will award higher points to organizations with a higher ratio of female executives in their annual evaluation,” she said.

Some organizations have claimed that they don’t have enough mid-level female officials to promote to high-ranking positions.

But she countered the claim, by saying, “It is true that the manpower pool of women is smaller than that of men but it is growing. The agencies can set their own goals and gradually raise the ratio of high-ranking female officials.”

Along with the measures, the master plan also focuses on reducing working mothers’ burden of childcare.

To guarantee enough maternity leaves for female workers, the government will pay 400,000 won ($350) per month as labor costs to medium-sized companies if they hire temporary workers to fill the female staffers’ vacancy. Currently 300,000 won is the amount paid.

There are also plans to build more public nursery schools.

“Public facilities can now hold only 10.5 percent of the children attending nursery schools, while private ones accommodate the rest. In Sweden, the ratio is 73.2 percent and Japan, 48.1 percent. We set 30 percent as a long-term goal,” the official said.

The government will also offer more support to victims of sex offenses or domestic violence, as well as providing students with more education about the adverse effects of the sex trade and sexual violence in general. <The Korea Times/Kim Rahn>