Workplace Gapjil 119 Survey of Office Workers
Top Cause: "Male-Dominated Organizational Culture"
A recent survey found that 7 out of 10 office workers in South Korea believe it is difficult for women to become executives in companies. The most commonly cited reason was a "male-dominated organizational culture."
On October 12, the civic group Workplace Gapjil 119 announced the results of a survey conducted by the polling agency Global Research, which targeted 1,000 office workers aged 19 and older nationwide. According to the survey, 69.8% of respondents answered that "South Korea is a society where it is difficult for women to become corporate executives." The proportion was 60.3% among men and 80.3% among women, meaning the percentage was 20 percentage points higher among women.
The most frequently cited reason for the difficulty women face in becoming corporate executives was "male-dominated organizational culture and discriminatory practices that favor the promotion of men" (36.5%). This was followed by "a lack of female promotion candidates due to the burden of pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare" (31.2%), and "prejudice against women's competence and leadership" (22.2%). The survey has a 95% confidence level and a margin of error of ±3.1 percentage points.
The organization also released this year's "Gender Discrimination Organizational Culture Index." This index quantifies the degree of agreement with 20 key gender discrimination scenarios that can be experienced in the workplace, using a 5-point scale. The lower the score, the stronger the gender-discriminatory organizational culture is considered to be at the company. The 2025 Gender Discrimination Organizational Culture Index scored 67.4 points, a slight increase from last year’s 66 points, but it still remains at a D grade.
The item that office workers rated the lowest was "key positions." Respondents gave a score of 56.4 points to the statement, "A particular gender overwhelmingly holds key positions at senior management level or above compared to the overall gender ratio of employees." In addition, "maternity" and "working conditions" also received low scores. The items "It is difficult to freely use maternity, childbirth, or parental leave" and "There are differences in wages or working conditions by gender for the same work" scored 58.6 points and 59.3 points, respectively.
"One in Three Senior Managers Has Experienced or Witnessed Entertainment Venue Hospitality"
Workplace Gapjil 119 cited the practice of entertainment venue hospitality as a representative example of "male-dominated culture." When asked, "Have you ever experienced or witnessed hospitality at entertainment venues (such as room salons or karaoke bars) at your current or most recent workplace?" 14.4% of office workers responded "yes." This response was more common among men (16.5%) than women (12.1%), and the proportion increased with company size and job level. Among senior managers, the figure reached 29.3%.
Additionally, 76.6% of respondents pointed out that the culture of hospitality at entertainment venues "creates negative social cultures such as gender discrimination and sexual harassment, and also generates unnecessary costs for companies." This response was more common among women (81.6%) than men (72.1%).
Yeo Sujin, a labor attorney at Workplace Gapjil 119, stated, "The fact that institutional areas such as promotion and recruitment received lower scores than cultural factors like sexual harassment or titles shows that gender discrimination has become entrenched in the organization’s systems and structures." She emphasized, "The government must first demonstrate a strong will to resolve structural gender discrimination issues."
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