In survey of highly educated individuals in STEM and medical fields, 52.8 percent said they’d want son to follow same path, compared to just 43.4 percent for daughter

Gender Equality and Family Minister Won Min-kyong speaks at a policy roundtable with women leaders in science and business at the Government Complex Seoul on Friday. (Newsis)
Gender Equality and Family Minister Won Min-kyong speaks at a policy roundtable with women leaders in science and business at the Government Complex Seoul on Friday. (Newsis)

Despite decades of heavy investment in science, technology, engineering and mathematics education, the majority of South Koreans with such a background are hesitant to encourage their daughters to follow in their footsteps, especially compared to their sons.

A nationwide survey conducted by the Korea Foundation for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology found that 43.4 percent of respondents — including both men and women — said they would want a daughter to pursue a career in science or engineering. Nearly as many (41 percent) preferred medical fields instead, with a much smaller share pointing to the humanities (10.2 percent) or arts (5.5 percent).

Asked the same question about sons, 52.8 percent said they would encourage them toward STEM, followed by medicine (36.5 percent).

The WISET survey, conducted online from September to October, gathered responses from 3,031 adults nationwide. The sample skewed toward highly educated individuals, with women making up about 70 percent and the majority in their 30s and 40s, the age group most affected by career interruption. About 54 percent held science or engineering degrees, while 15 percent came from medical or health-related fields.

In open-ended answers, respondents who considered switching to other fields described the challenges for women in pursuing careers in science and engineer, from prolonged career breaks due to childbirth and caregiving to exclusion from advancement opportunities. Terms like “male cartels,” “just a technician” and “glass ceiling” commonly appeared in descriptions of workplace culture and stalled progression.

According to WISET’s analysis of Statistics Korea figures, 168,108 women with science or engineering degrees were not in the workforce as of 2023 due to career interruptions. That group would account for 18.2 percent of all married women on career breaks in that year, showing a structural challenge in retaining talent that has already been trained.


mjh@heraldcorp.com