Women’s Promotion Safety Net

Korea in the early 2000s
Women’s college enrollment rate and share of public service employment has increased.
However, there are still only a few women managers in public service.
We have started to break through the thick glass ceiling.
To prevent women from suffering disadvantages on account of their gender and to promote their development as key talent in public service without career disruption,
the Women’s Promotion Safety Net was adopted.

The Women’s Promotion Safety Net is
a system that prevents women officials from being wrongly eliminated from promotions.

More broadly, it refers to the comprehensive effort towards balanced personnel management that includes promotions, assignment, education and training, and conditions for work & life balance.

It’s true that women in public service have increased in number recently. However, until now, women public officials were mainly appointed to positions that executed policies or provided administrative support.
But more women have recently been appointed to positions where they make key policy decisions of the government and are producing outcomes.
This shows that gender mainstreaming, which the UN has actively been recommending, is actually being realized.

For women, there are concerns about career disruptions from childbirth and child care and potential disadvantages in terms of personnel affairs. But the government’s policy to appoint more women managers has resolved many of the disadvantages, for instance, child-care leave is recognized as work experience.
I have two children, and I took two years off, one year for each child.
But it did not stand in the way of my promotion to a director in any way.

My wife is a public official too. Men are also recommended to take child-care leave and I was able to take some time off work for my child without walking on eggshells. Child rearing is not necessarily the responsibility of women. There are about five men in my class and more than three went on child-care leave. The trends have changed a lot.

The Korean government continues to make changes in its overall personnel management through the Women’s Promotion Safety Net.
The number of women managers who are in class 4 or higher increased by more than six-fold from 2.1% to 13.5%.
Women in high-level positions more than doubled from 2.7% to 5.8%.
The appointment rate of women in key departments increased from 6.6% to 27.6%.
And the average time period required for women to receive a promotion was shortened.

The Korean government will continue to increase the participation of women in high-level positions with appointment targets of 10% for high-level positions and 21% for director-level positions.

Moving from imbalance to balance,
discrimination to equality
Creating a Fair and Just Republic of Korea

Ministry of Personnel Management