Female Director Employment Emergency Main Illustration
SK Corporation appoints Kim Sun-hee, president of Maeil Dairy, as the outside director. The company announced on the 5th that it has decided to propose such an agenda at the regular shareholders’ meeting on the 29th. It is the first time since the establishment of an integrated holding company in 2015 that SK Corp. has chosen a female outside director. President Kim is the first female CEO in the domestic milk processing industry. Since 2014, he has been the CEO of Maeil Dairy. SK Co., Ltd. expressed its position that “it is expected to strengthen the company’s communication skills based on understanding of women in the same era.”
Competition for female experts to serve outside directors
Mandatory female directors with assets of 2 trillion or more
Amendment to the Capital Markets Act will be implemented in August next year
SK Co., Ltd. recruited Kim Sun-hee, president of Maeil Dairy
Hyundai Motor·LG·Hanwha Do
Finding female talent for’ESG management’ is also important
LG Corp. appoints Lee Soo-young, Executive Officer of Eco Management Korea Holdings, as an outside director at the regular shareholders’ meeting on the 26th. LG Group decided to appoint female outside directors from LG Electronics, LG Uplus, LG Hausys, and G2R this year. Next year, LG Chem, LG H&H, LG Display, and LG Innotek are also planning to include female outside directors on the board of directors.
Hyundai Motor Company will appoint Lee Ji-yoon, a professor at KAIST Department of Aerospace Engineering, as outside director at the regular shareholders’ meeting on the 24th. Hyundai Mobis, Hyundai Glovis, and Hyundai Steel have also confirmed candidates for female outside directors to be put on the agenda of the shareholders’ meeting. Hanwha Group also decided to appoint female non-executive directors from some subsidiaries such as Hanwha Corporation and Hanwha Aerospace.
Female outside director of major conglomerates
Samsung Electronics re-elects Ewha Womans University Emeritus Professor Kim Seon-wook, who served as the Minister of Legislation and the President of Ewha Womans University at the shareholders’ meeting on the 17th as an outside director (audit committee). SK Telecom also plans to reappoint Yoon Young-min, a professor at Korea University’s School of Media, as an outside director at the shareholders’ meeting on the 25th.
Fierce competition among companies to recruit a heavy female workforce to the board of directors is fierce. The amendment to the Capital Markets Act passed by the National Assembly in January last year prevented the board of directors from being formed only by men or women. This Act applies to all listed companies with total assets (or capital stock) of 2 trillion won or more. However, after the law came into force in August last year, there was a two-year grace period. If the current board members are all men, this means that at least one female member must participate in the board as registered directors by August next year. Listed companies that fail to meet these requirements are in the midst of working under the water to recruit external female experts as outside directors.
As of September last year, CEO Score, a corporate evaluation site, revealed the results of a survey of 147 companies with assets of 2 trillion won or more (based on the settlement of accounts in 2019). Of these, 46 (31%) had female registered directors. According to Unico Search, a headhunting specialist, there are no female registered directors in 70 of the top 100 companies in Korea. As of the third quarter of last year, there were 756 members of the board of directors of the top 100 companies, of which 39 (5%) were women. According to the Swiss investment bank Credit Swiss Institute (CSRI), as of 2019, the proportion of women on the board of directors of major global corporations was 21%.
Ratio of female registered directors at the top 100 companies in Korea
Companies prefer professors, entrepreneurs, legal professionals, and former bureaucrats with expertise as candidates for female registered directors. The term of office for outside directors is up to six years, so it is difficult to keep appointing the same person.
Some argue that it is necessary to find female executives in the company according to the management stance of’ESG’ (environmental, social responsibility, improvement of corporate governance). Blackrock, the world’s largest asset management company, announced in 2018 that it would not invest in companies with fewer than two female directors.
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family surveyed the gender of executives of 2072 listed companies based on the business report for the first quarter of 2019. They were Clio (71%) and Bonne (50%), listed on the KOSDAQ, and Handsome (42%), listed on the KOSPI.
Hong Ji-yeon, a senior researcher at the Capital Markets Research Institute, said, “Gender diversity is affecting (global investors’) investment. It is also important to secure female workforce for corporate value.”
Reporter Kim Kyung-mi [email protected]
