The Boardroom Doors Have Opened... But Only 6.5% of Promoted Non-Registered Executives Are Women [2026 Gender Equality Index]

A Look at Board and Executive Composition at Major Companies

Female Outside Directors Double from 13.3% to 26.8% in Five Years

Krafton Leads with 80% Female Outside Directors

Only 12 Companies Have Female Inside Directors, All with Ju

Editor's NoteNumbers gain power the moment they are disclosed. Since parental leave usage rates began to be made public last year, the number of companies where the male usage rate was in the single digits nearly halved within a year. The reason this year’s total fertility rate is expected to reach the 0.9 level—the first time in seven years—is also rooted in such changes in the workplace. Now in its 11th year, the Asia Gender Equality Index has assessed progress and limitations in Korean workplaces by analyzing data from 137 companies and voices from the field. Transparent data transforms workplaces, and workplace change offers solutions to the low birthrate. The Asia Gender Equality Index aims to serve as both the yardstick for these changes, and the force that accelerates them.

26.8% and 6.5%—these are the two figures confirmed in the 2026 Asia Gender Equality Index for leadership among the top 100 companies. The proportion of women among outside directors—who are brought in from outside—has doubled over the past five years from 13.3% to 26.8%, thanks to legislation such as the women's board quota. However, the ratio of women among non-registered executives, who are promoted internally, was just 6.5% last year. This means that while diversity among externally recruited leaders has increased, diversity among leaders groomed inside the company remains severely lacking.

An image depicting the reality of a lack of women on corporate boards, illustrated through ChatGPT. ChatGPT

Number of Female Inside Directors Rises to 12: Symbolic Change at Hyundai Motor Company

As of the end of last year, only 12 of the top 100 listed companies had at least one female inside director—a rise of two companies compared to 2024. In addition to existing companies such as Kakao, Naver, LG Household & Health Care, LG Uplus, CJ ENM, Amorepacific, Hotel Shilla, Daesang, Lotte Chilsung Beverage, and SL, two new entrants—Hyundai Motor Company and DL E&C—joined the list.

The noteworthy point is the industries where these new faces have appeared. Hyundai Motor Company, a company in the traditionally male-dominated automobile manufacturing sector, now has three out of seven outside directors as women—propelling it 29 spots higher in this year’s index. DL E&C was the only one among eight construction companies in the top 100 to have a female inside director, a significant achievement given the construction sector ranks low on the index. In 2024, automotive parts maker SL also appointed a female inside director. These cases show that board diversity is not exclusive to consumer goods or IT sectors.

However, no company had more than one female inside director; all 12 companies only had one. Even Naver, which was the only company over the past three years to have two female inside directors, reduced that number to one last year. Only four companies—Naver, Daesang, Hotel Shilla, and Lotte Chilsung Beverage—have maintained a female inside director for five consecutive years, highlighting that women remain a tiny minority on boards as a whole.

Proportion of Female Outside Directors Doubles in 5 Years: Krafton Leads with 80%

Much clearer changes were seen in outside directors. The percentage of female outside directors at the top 100 companies surged from 13.3% in 2021 to 26.8% last year—more than doubling in five years. The number of companies without a single female outside director shrank from 50 to 12 during the same period. Five years ago, half of the top 100 companies had boards overseen by men only; now, that number has shrunk to one-eighth. Conversely, the number of companies with a majority of female outside directors rose from five in 2021 to 12 last year.

However, global standards are moving even higher. The European Union mandated that large publicly listed companies appoint at least 40% of outside directors (or 33% of all directors) as women by the end of June this year. The Korean top 100 company average (26.8%) still falls short. Among companies, Krafton stood out most with 80% (4 out of 5) of its outside directors being women—by far the highest among all 137 firms in the survey. Kia and Kakao followed at 60% each, far exceeding the EU requirement. In 2024, companies such as CJ CheilJedang, Taihan Cable, and KG Steel—where there had previously been no women on the board—fulfilled their pledges by appointing female outside directors, ending their zero counts. Hyundai AutoEver also newly appointed a female outside director. In contrast, eight companies—KT, Hyundai Corporation, Hyosung TNC, Kolon Industries, Kumho Tire, GS Global, KCC, Kolon Global—appointed no women as inside or outside directors last year, resulting in low scores on the Asia Gender Equality Index.

New Metric of 'Non-Registered Executives' Lays Bare the Reality: Female Ratio Fails to Reach a Quarter of Outside Directors

'Proportion of women among non-registered executives,' newly prioritized in this year’s leadership metric, reveals aspects that board statistics alone cannot capture. While the rise of female outside directors is a form of visible diversity spurred by the Capital Markets Act’s prohibition against single-gender boards, non-registered executives represent the real paths for internal promotion—untouched by such regulatory mandates. Since these figures are publicly disclosed in business reports, they allow for company-by-company comparisons and represent a core improvement in this year's calculation method.

The results showed a stark contrast. The average proportion of women among non-registered executives at the top 100 companies was 6.5%—a slight rise from 6% the previous year. However, this ratio is less than a quarter that of female outside directors (26.8%). In short, while gender diversity changed at the board level due to regulatory pressure, promotions to the executive level, which lacks legal requirements, have stalled. Twenty-one companies had no female non-registered executives at all, including firms in heavy industries such as Hyundai Steel, Hanwha Ocean, and Samsung Heavy Industries—as well as companies with female inside directors like Hotel Shilla and Lotte Chilsung Beverage. In many cases, the presence of a single woman on the board is merely symbolic, with little change at the executive level overall.

In contrast, content and consumer goods companies have steadily fostered female leadership not just on boards but also among executives. CJ ENM topped the list with 32.4%, posting the largest annual gain at 12.9 percentage points. Following were Amorepacific (26.5%), LG Household & Health Care (25.7%), SK Networks (25%), and Celltrion (24.7%).

The financial sector’s average was 9.6%—higher than the top 100 overall—and only one firm, Hana Bank, recorded 0%. Notably, Samsung Card, which lost points due to an absence of outside directors, led the financial sector with 24.1% of non-registered executives being women. Woori Bank, ranked first overall on the Asia Gender Equality Index, increased this ratio by 9 percentage points over the past year to reach 19.1%, marking the hidden driver behind its rise to the top in this new metric.

Financial Sector: Samsung Securities Broke the 'Zero' Record, Only to Revert a Year Later

In 2024, not a single female inside director was found among 37 financial institutions. Last year, however, Samsung Securities made history by appointing a female inside director—the only such case in the industry. It seemed the legacy of female inside directors—which ended in 2023 with the departure of former KB Securities CEO Park Jeonglim—had been revived after two years. But this year, that director resigned, returning the female inside director count among 37 financial firms to zero.

There was improvement in the outside director category, however. The proportion of female outside directors in finance rose from 21.7% in 2024 to 25.4% last year. Five financial firms had at least 50% female outside directors: Lotte Card (60%), Samsung Life Insurance, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, Woori Bank, and Hana Card (each at 50%). The number of financial institutions with no female outside directors declined from seven to five (Woori Card, Jeonbuk Bank, K-Bank, Hyundai Card, and Gwangju Bank), thanks to new appointments at Busan Bank and KB Securities.

Still, board gender imbalance remained a key factor separating winners and losers in the sector. The absence of female outside directors was the common denominator among financial firms whose rankings fell sharply this year, including K-Bank (down 17 places) and Hyundai Card (down 12 places). Even among category leaders, the score for leadership (Woori Bank, etc., 9 points) was lower than for hiring (Meritz Securities, 25.25 points), compensation (Shinhan Card, 18 points), and work-life balance (Lotte Card, 16.75 points)—highlighting the sector’s greatest weak spot.

Companies with Women on Boards Achieve Better Performance

The correlation between board diversity and business performance has been confirmed by research both in Korea and abroad. According to a report released last year by the global index provider MSCI, companies with boards comprising at least 30% women delivered approximately 19% higher cumulative stock returns over the past five years than companies that did not meet this threshold. Korean research shows a similar trend. Professor Seong Hoyong of Sungshin Women’s University reported in a 2020 Korean Women Economists Association journal that among the top 200 companies by revenue between 2013 and 2019, those with at least one female board director recorded a 1.2 percentage point higher return on assets and a 2.1 percentage point higher return on sales than companies with all-male boards. Professor Seong advised, “To resolve gender diversity issues on boards, above all, social awareness and improvement of corporate culture are necessary. Companies need to discover programs that foster female managerial talent and expand effective institutional support for work-family balance so that qualified and experienced women can serve as directors.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.