Women's Employment Crawls Forward... At This Pace, 'Half and Half' Will Take 100 Years [2026 Gender Equality Index]

A Closer Look at Female Employment Trends in Large Corporations and Financial Institutions
Only 21.9% of Full-Time Employees at Top 100 Companies Are Women... Up Just 1.4 Percentage Points in Five Years
CJ Freshway 69.6% vs KG Mobility 2.4%... 3

Editor's Note
Numbers gain power the moment they are made public. Since last year, when parental leave usage rates became publicly disclosed, the number of companies with single-digit rates for men has dropped by nearly half in just one year. Such changes in workplaces are also driving the projection that this year’s total fertility rate may reach the 0.9 range for the first time in seven years. Now in its 11th year, the 'Asia Gender Equality Index' analyzes data from 137 companies and the voices from the field to identify both progress and limitations in our workplaces. Transparent data changes the workplace, and these workplace changes provide solutions to the low birthrate crisis. The Asia Gender Equality Index aims to both measure and accelerate this transformation.

The average proportion of female regular employees at 37 financial companies stands at 49.3%, nearly reaching the halfway mark. In contrast, among the top 100 companies, the rate is just 21.9%, having increased by only 1.4 percentage points over the past five years. If this pace continues, it would take about 100 years for the proportion of women at large enterprises to reach 50%. Although both sectors are considered to offer high-quality jobs, the clock for women's employment moves at vastly different speeds in these two worlds.

According to this year’s Asia Gender Equality Index, the average proportion of female regular employees at the top 100 companies last year was 21.9%. This figure has barely budged from the low 20% range five years ago. Together, the 100 surveyed companies and the 37 financial firms employed approximately 1 million people. However, the landscape of women's employment varies drastically by industry and company. When calculated by industry, the average proportion of female regular employees was 36.1% in retail and wholesale, and 32.8% in information and communications. Transportation and warehousing came in at 27.9%, surpassing the overall average. On the other hand, manufacturing—comprising 60% of surveyed companies—recorded just 17.7%, and construction only 12.1%. The segmented workforce structures by industry sharply influence the persistently low overall average of female hires at large corporations.

CJ Freshway 69.6% vs KG Mobility 2.4%

Company-level disparities were even greater. Last year, CJ Freshway had the highest proportion of female regular employees at 69.6%. Following were Lotte Shopping at 66.1%, Ottogi at 64.4%, CJ ENM at 62.8%, and Amorepacific at 62.5%. In these top five companies, female employees already outnumber men.

Emart posted 57.6%, Asiana Airlines 57.3%, Nongshim 55.6%, LG Household & Health Care 52.2%, and Hotel Shilla 50.5%, rounding out the top 10. Companies in distribution, food, content, and service sectors dominated the upper ranks.

Conversely, at KG Mobility, only 2.4% of regular employees were women—about a 29-fold difference compared to CJ Freshway. Korea Petrochemical Ind. (3.3%), Hyundai Steel (3.5%), Hyundai Wia (4%), Samsung Heavy Industries (4.3%), Kumho Tire (4.65%), Dongkuk Steel Mill (4.76%), and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (4.8%) each reported proportions below 5%.

As of last year, 32 companies had a female proportion of less than 10%. While this number has decreased from 34 five years ago, it still accounts for nearly one-third of the top 100 firms surveyed. More than 50% of employees are women at 10 companies, while fewer than 5% are women at 8 other companies, reflecting the existence of two vastly different job markets for women even within the same group of large enterprises.

KT Up 7.8 Percentage Points in 5 Years... 24 Companies See Decline

In terms of change over the past five years, company-by-company differences stood out. KT saw the largest increase in the proportion of female regular employees, rising by 7.8 percentage points from 18.7% in 2021 to 26.5% last year. Next were GS Global (up 6.9 percentage points), Naver (6.2 percentage points), Kolon Global and SK Gas (5.9 percentage points each).

Meanwhile, 24 companies saw a decline in the proportion of female regular employees compared to five years ago. Hyundai Corporation reported the steepest drop, falling by 6.2 percentage points from 24.9% to 18.7%. Emart dropped by 3.9 percentage points, GS Retail by 3.8 percentage points, Coway by 3.7 percentage points, and POSCO International by around 3.7 percentage points.

Although the overall average increased by 1.4 percentage points, which might suggest gradual progress, looking deeper reveals that some companies made rapid gains while others regressed. Thus, it is difficult to say that the expansion of female hiring is proceeding uniformly across large corporations.

An image created by ChatGPT depicting the reality that there are differences in the proportion of male and female regular employees and employment stability within companies. ChatGPT

A New Metric: 'Quality of Employment'... Female Regularization Rate at 94% of Male Rate

This year, a new metric introduced for the index offers an extra layer of insight into the disparity. The “female regularization rate” is calculated by dividing the proportion of female regular employees by that of male regular employees, serving as a measure of gender differences in employment stability. A value of 100% means women are hired as regular employees at the same level as men. Among the top 100 companies, the average stood at 94.4%, an improvement of 1.7 percentage points from five years ago (92.7%). Although women account for only one in five employees, those who are hired as regular employees are now enjoying employment stability at about 94% the level of their male peers. In fact, at 35 companies, the female regularization rate exceeded that of men.

Interestingly, the rankings for this metric are often the reverse of the rankings for overall female representation. The top spot went to Poongsan (132.5%), a defense and materials company, followed by Pan Ocean (109.9%), Korea Petrochemical Ind. (109.5%), SAMSUNG E&A (109.4%), and Hyundai Motor Company (108.9%). These are male-dominated firms, each with only 3–11% female employees. This means that while few women are hired, those who are become regular staff in most cases. Conversely, the bottom rankings were filled with construction companies such as Hyundai Engineering & Construction (51.5%), DL E&C (54.3%), Kolon Global (55%), and Hyundai Development Company (IPARK) (61.2%). Construction has both a low proportion of female employees (12.1%) and a high proportion of women in non-regular positions, resulting in a 'double gap' disadvantage in both quantity and quality of employment.

In the financial sector, the average female regularization rate was 107%, exceeding 100%. At 22 of the 37 firms, the rate was higher for women than for men. Meritz Securities placed first with a striking 223.2%, which explains why it scored the maximum 25.25 points in the employment category. However, this does not necessarily mean that women are favored—it rather reflects a structure where many men work as contract staff, especially in brokerage, which tends to rely heavily on performance-based contracts. At the bottom were Meritz Fire Insurance (76.9%), BC Card (77.5%), Lotte Card (78.2%), and Hyundai Card (79.1%), mostly insurance and card companies.

However, the five-year trend also carries a warning: at 38 of the top 100 companies, this ratio has actually declined compared to five years ago. Hyundai Corporation saw the steepest fall (down 24.4 percentage points), followed by HL Mando (down 20.6 percentage points). Increasing the 'proportion' of female regular employees and ensuring the 'stability' of female employment are distinct challenges—hence why this year’s index gave equal weight to both metrics.

The Financial Sector’s Female Regular Employment Rate Nears 50%

At the 37 financial companies, the average proportion of female regular employees reached 49.3%, nearly at parity. This is a 2.1 percentage point increase from 47.2% five years ago, and more than double the 21.9% rate across the top 100 companies.

Hana Bank recorded the highest female regular employment rate in the financial sector at 64.6%, followed by KB Kookmin Bank (58.1%), Hana Securities (56.5%), Woori Bank (56%), and DB Insurance (55.4%). Kiwoom Securities, iM Bank, Gwangju Bank, Busan Bank, and Meritz Fire Insurance also had female employee rates exceeding 50%.

Even at BC Card—the financial company with the lowest rate—the proportion was 30.7%, higher than the average for the top 100 companies. Samsung Card had 36.6%, KakaoBank 41.7%, and K Bank 41.8%. This suggests that in the financial sector, the key issue has shifted from a shortage of female employees to the roles and levels at which women are placed and how high they can climb within companies.

Among five-year changes, K Bank showed the most dramatic improvement, rising 7.6 percentage points from 34.2% in 2021 to 41.8% last year. Hana Securities rose by 6.6 percentage points, Meritz Securities by 5.5 percentage points, and KB Kookmin Bank by 5 percentage points over the same period. On the other hand, Kiwoom Securities dropped by 6.7 percentage points and Woori Card fell by 6.3 percentage points. Among the 37 financial companies surveyed, seven saw a decrease in the proportion of female regular employees over the past five years.

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