Among 30 Major Groups, 20 Have Zero Female Inside Directors in Affiliates

Leaders Index Analysis of 298 Affiliates in 30 Major Groups
Increase Mainly in Female Outside Directors After Revised Capital Market Act Enforcement

Among the top 30 domestic conglomerates, 20 groups were found to have no female inside directors in their affiliates.

On the 8th, Leaders Index, a corporate analysis research institute, analyzed the gender composition of the boards of directors of 298 affiliates of the top 30 groups by asset ranking. As of this year, out of 850 outside directors, 174 (20.5%) are women.

Compared to the end of 2021, before the revised Capital Market Act was enforced, when 86 out of 789 outside directors (10.9%) were women, this represents a significant increase.

[Provided by Leaders Index]

On the other hand, the number of female inside directors increased only slightly, from 13 out of 738 (1.8%) at the end of 2021 to 25 out of 787 (3.2%) currently.

According to the revised Capital Market Act, which came into effect in August 2022, boards of directors must not be composed solely of one gender in order to secure diversity and enhance global competitiveness.

Leaders Index explained, "Regardless of the law's intent, women are appointed as outside directors to fulfill the quota, while inside directors are still predominantly male."

At the end of 2021, there were 7 groups among the top 30 conglomerates with no women on their boards, but now every board of the top 30 groups has at least one woman.

However, when looking only at inside directors, the number of groups with no female inside directors decreased only slightly from 22 to 20 during the same period.

Among the top 30 groups, 10 groups have female inside directors in their affiliates, including Samsung, SK, Hyundai Motor, LG, Lotte, CJ, Naver, KT, Hanjin, and Kakao.

The group with the most female inside directors is Kakao Group, with a total of six, including Jeong Sin-ah, CEO of Kakao, and Lee Ok-seon, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Neptune.

There are seven female CEOs: Lee Boo-jin of Hotel Shilla, Lee Jeong-ae of LG Household & Health Care, Park Ae-ri of HSAD, Choi Soo-yeon of Naver, Jeong Sin-ah of Kakao, Kim Jae-hyun of Studio Dragon, and Han Soo-mi of Narae Energy Service.

Among female inside directors, three belong to owner families: Lee Boo-jin, President of Hotel Shilla; Jeong Seong-i, Advisor of Innocean; and Jeong Myeong-i, President of Hyundai Commercial.