(123rf)
(123rf)

The number of female independent directors at major South Korean companies in 2024 marked a marginal increase from the year before, but at a much slower rate of growth from previous years, a report by a local headhunting firm showed Wednesday.

The report by Unico Search analyzed the country's top 100 companies by sales, and found that 110 of the 454 outside directors -- referring to board members who are not employees or stakeholders of the company -- were women, or 24.2 percent.

Both the total number and percentage of female independent directors at top 100 companies have been increasing each year since 35 (7.9 percent) in 2020, but at a gradually slower rates. The figures went from 67 in 2021 (15 percent), to 94 in 2022 (21 percent), to 107 in 2023 (23.7 percent) to 110 last year, increasing by just three women.

In August 2022, the revised Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act was enacted, by which companies with assets exceeding 2 trillion won ($1.4 billion) were prohibited from having a board made up entirely of single gender.

However, Unico Search pointed out that most companies opt to appoint just one female outside director to meet the legal minimum. The report showed that 70 of the 100 firms analyzed had exactly one female outside director.

Only 10 women were working within companies as directors at the 100 biggest companies here, meaning only 15.7 percent of all directors at Korea's 100 biggest companies were women.


minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com