Female Executives in Companies with 2 Trillion Won Assets Increase by 3 Percentage Points in 2 Years... Most Are Outside Directors

CEO Score, Comparison of Registered Executives Status at 196 Companies
Impact of Revised Capital Market Act Prohibiting Gender-Based Composition
43 Companies with Two or More Female Registered Executives

The proportion of female registered executives in listed companies with domestic assets exceeding 2 trillion won has increased by 3.0 percentage points over the past two years.

According to CEO Score, a corporate data research institute, a comparison of the status of registered executives in 196 listed companies with total assets exceeding 2 trillion won revealed that the number of female registered executives increased by 54, from 172 (13.1%) at the end of June 2022 to 226 (16.1%) at the end of last month this year, a 3.0 percentage point rise.

Among them, the number of female outside directors rose by 48, from 160 at the end of June 2022 to 208 at the end of last month. In fact, as of this year, 92.0% of all female registered executives are outside directors. However, compared to 93.0% at the end of June 2022, the proportion of female outside directors decreased by 1.0 percentage point.

The number of male registered executives increased by only 30 during the same period, from 1,144 to 1,174. Male outside directors increased from 620 to 634, but their proportion decreased by 0.2 percentage points from 54.2% to 54.0%.

The increase in the proportion of female registered executives is interpreted as a result of the influence of the revised Capital Markets Act enacted in 2020. The revised Capital Markets Act was implemented from August 2022 after a two-year grace period. This law stipulates that listed companies with total assets exceeding 2 trillion won must not compose their entire board of directors with only one specific gender.

Nevertheless, as of the end of September, there were still 13 companies with no female registered executives at all. This number decreased from 22 companies at the end of June 2022. In particular, seven companies?KCC, Nexen Tire, KG Steel, SD Biosensor, Kolon Global, HDC, and Samyang Holdings?were found to have had no female registered executives for two years. Hyundai AutoEver and CJ CheilJedang currently have no female registered executives due to voluntary resignations before term expiration in July and August, respectively.

The number of companies with two or more female registered executives increased by 24, from 19 in 2022 to 43 this year. The companies with the highest number of female registered executives were Krafton and Kakao (each with 4), followed by SK IE Technology, SK Innovation, Kia, and Amorepacific (each with 3). As of the end of September, three companies had a female registered executive ratio exceeding 50%: Krafton (57.1%), Kakao (50%), and SK IE Technology (50%).