[2022 National Audit] 96% of Female CEOs Are Small Business Owners

As Company Size Grows, Proportion of Female CEOs Decreases... Only 0.01% Female CEOs in Large Corporations
Female Employment Rate in Women-led Companies 2.3 Times Higher Than in Male-led Companies
Assemblyman Shinyoungdae: "A Women-Friendly Corporate Environment Must Be Created"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] Although the proportion of 'women-owned businesses,' where women are the chief executive officers (CEOs), among all domestic companies is increasing every year, most of them are found to be small-scale micro-enterprises.

According to an analysis by Shin Young-dae, a member of the National Assembly's Industry, Trade, Energy, Small and Medium Enterprises and Startups Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, of the 'Basic Plan Report for Promoting Women-Owned Business Activities' prepared by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups this year, the number of women-owned businesses in 2019 was 2.77 million, marking a record high proportion of 40.2%, up 4.4% from 2018.

However, as the company size increased, the proportion of companies with women CEOs decreased, and women-led companies were relatively small-scale.

Among women-owned businesses, 96.3% were micro-enterprises, 3.1% were small enterprises, 0.6% were medium enterprises, and only 0.01% were large enterprises.

By industry, wholesale and retail trade accounted for the largest share at 26.3%, followed by real estate and rental services at 22.5%, accommodation and food services at 17.8%, and repair and other personal services at 7.5%.

The total sales revenue of women-owned businesses was only 551 trillion won, accounting for 9.8% of the total sales revenue of all companies, and the 7-year survival rate of women CEO-led companies was 19.9%, about 4 percentage points lower than the 7-year survival rate of all companies.

On the other hand, the female employment rate in women CEO-led companies was 69.4%, 2.3 times higher than that of male-led companies, confirming that the effect of creating female jobs is more pronounced than in male CEO-led companies.

Assemblyman Shin Young-dae stated, "Recently, successful cases have emerged by combining daily life-oriented content such as Jjaekak Crocodile (childcare), Cleaning Research Institute (housekeeping), and Market Kurly (distribution) with information and communication technology, but the success of women entrepreneurs still remains like a myth," and emphasized, "Active budget allocation and the creation of a women-friendly corporate environment are necessary for nurturing women CEOs and ensuring stable and successful startups by women CEOs."