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47 companies where women make up more than half the workforce
Average share of female executives just 0.2%
Companies typically described as female-majority have far fewer women in executive roles than their headcount would suggest. While policy changes have helped raise the number of female executives, the proportion of inside directors — those who have direct influence over company management — has declined.
On June 2, corporate research firm Leaders Index analyzed first-quarter reports this year from 394 of Korea’s top 500 companies for which data were available. It found 47 firms where women accounted for more than half of employees. In those firms, women held only 0.2% of executive positions on average, below the overall average of 0.3%. By contrast, the rate at which male employees served as executives was 1.4%, equal to the overall average.
Across the 394 companies, 15,370 executives held 1,268 female positions, or 8.2% of the total. That share has edged up from 7.3% in 2024 and 8.1% in 2025. The increase followed a 2022 amendment to the Capital Markets Act that prevents listed firms with assets of 2 trillion KRW or more (approximately 1.5 billion USD) from composing boards made up of a single gender.
Among registered directors on corporate boards, the number of female outside directors rose while female inside directors declined. Female registered executives increased from 295 (11.3%) in 2024 to 344 (12.8%) in 2025 and 377 (13.6%) in Q1 this year. Over the same period, female inside directors fell from 53 to 51, while female outside directors rose from 242 to 326, an increase of 84. The share of outside directors among female registered executives grew from 82% to 86.5%, while the share of inside directors fell from 18% to 13.5%.
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