Unico Search’s 2024 Survey on Female Executives in the Top 100 Companies
Total of 463, Up 5.5% YoY… Samsung Electronics Leads with 81
3 Out of 4 Companies Have Female Executives… AmorePacific Has the Highest Proportion at 28%, ‘This year, the number of female executives in the top 100 companies reached a record high of 463. One in five female executives is from Samsung Electronics. AmorePacific has the highest proportion of female executives at 28% among the top 100 companies.’,
On July 5, employees are seen commuting to Samsung Electronics’ Seocho office in Seoul. Photo by Jo Yong-jun.
The global headhunting firm Unico Search announced on the 11th that the ‘2024 Survey on Female Executives in Korea’s Top 100 Companies’ shows there are 463 female executives this year, setting a record high. This marks an increase of 24 (5.5%) from last year’s 439. The growth rate of female executives this year is about six times higher than the overall executive growth rate of 0.8% (7345 to 7404).
This figure represents an increase of over 400 from 13 female executives 20 years ago in 2004, and over 300 increase from 106 female executives 10 years ago in 2014.
The proportion of female executives among all executives remains at 6.3%, the same as last year. This percentage has grown from 3.5% in 2019, to 4.1% in 2020, to 4.8% in 2021, and surpassed 6% for the first time last year.
The number of companies with female executives continues to rise. This year, 74 companies out of the top 100 have female executives, increasing by two from last year’s 72, marking an all-time high.
By company, Samsung Electronics leads with 81 female executives, followed by CJ CheilJedang and Naver with 26 each, Hyundai Motor with 20, AmorePacific with 16, and both Lotte Shopping and LG Electronics with 14.
AmorePacific boasts the highest percentage of female executives at 28.1% among companies with 10 or more female executives. Of its 57 total executives, 16 are women. Other companies with more than 10% female executives include CJ CheilJedang (23.4%), Naver (19.7%), Lotte Shopping (15.9%), KT (12.8%), and LG Chem (10.4%).
There are a total of 10 female in-house directors in the top 100 companies. Among them, four are CEOs: Bu-jin Lee of Hotel Shilla, Jung-ae Lee of LG Household & Health Care, Soo-yeon Choi of Naver, and Yun-hye Choi of Korea Gas Corporation.
Hye-yang Kim, CEO of Unico Search, stated, “There is a continuing trend in large companies to value female talent,” and predicted, “The trend of actively appointing female executives will likely continue to be strong in next year’s personnel appointments.”