[K Population Strategy] It Took 54 Years for a Female CEO to Emerge at Samsung Electronics... "Inclusion Culture Must Be Strengthened"

Year-Round Project - 'Gender Equality Is the Answer'
Former Chairman Lee Geon-hee Emphasized 'Female Talent'
Last Year, President Lee Young-hee Promoted... First Female President Since Foundation
Focus on Achieving 'Female Leadership Quota' Goal

"Female executives must become presidents. While they may not be able to fully demonstrate their capabilities as executives, once they become presidents, they can fully realize their intentions and abilities." (August 2011 · Late Chairman Lee Kun-hee, former Samsung Chairman)

Chairman Lee Kun-hee was well known for consistently emphasizing the importance of female talent. In his 1997 book, Let's Think a Little and Look at the World, he pointed out, "In other countries, men and women compete together, but here, men are struggling alone. It's like a bicycle race with one wheel flat," calling this "a true national waste of human resources." He also stated, "Companies must open their doors wide to women and build infrastructure to support their employment activities," and criticized, "If women are disadvantaged in hiring or promotion simply because they are women, what will compensate for the company's loss of opportunity, not to mention the frustration experienced by the individuals involved?"

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong (then Vice Chairman) is taking a selfie with an employee after a meeting with working mom employees at the Samsung SDS Jamsil Campus on August 30, 2022.
[Photo by Samsung Electronics]

Continuing Chairman Lee’s policy, Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong has also shown unwavering interest in female talent. He encourages and supports by saying, "Let’s create an organizational culture where talented women can fully demonstrate their abilities, grow into next-generation leaders, and become role models," and "Working moms raising children are patriots."

However, it is difficult to highly evaluate Chairman Lee’s utilization of female talent. Last year, he succeeded in making Chairman Lee Kun-hee’s words a reality by promoting Lee Young-hee, head of the DX (Consumer Electronics & Mobile) Division’s Global Marketing Office, to president for the first time in the company’s history. Yet, active efforts to improve gender discrimination in the labor market, symbolized by the "glass ceiling," still seem necessary.

Currently, Samsung Electronics is implementing various measures to expand female leadership. One of these is the "Female Leadership Target System." The goal is to more than double the proportion of female executives from 6.9% in 2022 by 2030.

The Female Leadership Target System is carried out company-wide without distinction between divisions such as DX and DS (Semiconductors). It manages the proportion of women in hiring, evaluation, and retirement, and consists of programs supporting next-generation leader workshops and networking among female executives to help outstanding women grow into leaders.

The next-generation female leader workshop targets the CL4 (department head level) rank, which is the pool of executive candidates. Samsung Electronics supports participants to grow into executives through mentoring by senior female executives, leadership coaching to become trusted leaders, and networking among female colleagues. This is regarded as leveraging the experience of operating the first leadership training course exclusively for female managers in a Korean company since 2001. At that time, there were about 200 female managers among 40,000 employees at Samsung Electronics, and only 11 female department heads.

Vice Chairman Han Jong-hee of Samsung Electronics and female leaders gathered on March 8th to commemorate International Women's Day and had a discussion about female leadership.
[Photo by Samsung Electronics]

Samsung Electronics also holds various events every year on March 8, International Women’s Day. Each regional headquarters operates programs tailored to local cultures, including roundtable meetings with female executives, seminars with external speakers on DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), panel discussions, and vacation and gift events for female employees.

The company also operates a "DEI Secretariat." It was elevated to a secretariat in December last year and plans and operates global DEI policies and programs. It supports promoting diversity and inclusion within the organization and ensuring equitable systems are in place. Major activities focus on expanding global female leadership, improving employment and awareness of people with disabilities, and more. Various activities to share DEI best practices across regions and campaigns and education to improve employee awareness are also ongoing.

A business community official explained, "Samsung Electronics’ DEI has continuously worked to change awareness among executives and employees, including department heads, and many employees empathize with the necessity of DEI," adding, "They are planning various initiatives to embrace differences and diversity so that an inclusive organizational culture can be established."