[K-Women Talk] Why a Well-Raised Daughter Gets Overtaken by a Son

The Gender Wage Gap Stems from Choice of Major
High Proportion of Women in Low-Starting-Salary Fields Like Education and Arts
Only 25% of 'Engineering Beauties' Are Female
Hoping for a 1:1 Admission Ratio for Daughters in Engineering

[Asia Economy] Do you remember the ‘meme’ that shows the difference between sons and daughters? When the mother falls off the son’s bicycle, the daughter runs to her, while the son runs to check the bicycle. Comments poured in about the difference in empathy between sons and daughters, and testimonies saying ‘you really should have a daughter’ followed one after another.

The same result came out in this year’s ‘Preference Survey for Daughters and Sons’ conducted by Korea Research. 55% answered that ‘you should have at least one daughter,’ while 31% said ‘you should have at least one son.’ Preference for daughters was high across all age groups, but among the conservative 60 and older group, as many as 70% showed a preference for daughters. On mom cafes, questions about ‘how to have a daughter’ and tips for doing so are among the popular posts.

What is the employment reality for our daughters, who must have at least one? According to big data analyzing the employment status of 550,000 university graduates in 2020 by the Korea Educational Development Institute, the average starting salary for college graduates is 2.44 million KRW, but about 44% of employed female college graduates earn less than 2 million KRW per month.

Only about 27% of males fall into this salary range. Men surpass women by 7.9% and 8.4% respectively in the 2 to 3 million KRW and above 3 million KRW salary brackets. Where does this gap come from? Is there still a gender wage gap? The answer lies not in gender but in majors.

Looking at starting salaries by field, graduates in education and arts & physical education fields are most concentrated in the under 2 million KRW starting salary bracket. Especially in arts & physical education, 58% of graduates earn less than 2 million KRW as their starting salary. Unfortunately, both of these fields have very high female ratios.

In particular, the education field has a female ratio 3.5 times higher. Even in the humanities field, where the female ratio is twice as high, the largest number of graduates earn between 2 and 3 million KRW, but the difference with the under 2 million KRW bracket is only 3%.

The gender gap in starting salaries arises because women are 2 to 3 times more numerous in these three fields?education, arts & physical education, and humanities?where starting salaries are low.

The likelihood of entering industries with low starting salaries is the reality our daughters face after graduation. Except for the medical field, the highest starting salaries are in engineering. 73% of graduates are in the 2 million KRW or higher bracket, and over 7% earn more than 4 million KRW, compared to 1 to 5% in other fields. However, the female ratio in the high-paying engineering field is only 25%. Even in a world that prefers daughters, ‘engineering beauties’ remain rare. Employment is also difficult.

It is said that 80% of jobs are in science and technology, and 20% are in non-science and technology fields. Only 36% of female graduates major in science, engineering, or medical fields, so our daughters are highly likely to face unemployment and low wages as soon as they enter the world. The reservoir of engineering jobs is large and full of fish, but our daughters must fiercely compete in a small reservoir with few fish.

What attitude do we take when deciding majors for daughters and sons? We often recommend engineering to sons even if it is far away, while telling daughters that ‘being a teacher or civil servant is stable,’ thus encouraging education and humanities fields.

If a daughter likes art or music, we suggest arts & physical education majors without much hesitation. Let’s not say ‘those who are meant to succeed will succeed.’ No one can beat probability and trends.

Have you ever felt heartache hearing that the boy next door, who was restless and only liked games, got a job at a game company in Pangyo? Have you ever felt that your diligent daughter became highlighted as incompetent after becoming a job seeker?

If you can’t get a job, marriage is also difficult, and you may become an involuntary ‘penguin tribe.’ It’s not the children’s fault. Now daughters must also go into engineering fields where there are many good jobs. We look forward to a 1:1 admission ratio for daughters in engineering.

Lee Sook-eun, CEO of Lee’s Bookstore