Hiring Women a key for Korean Companies

Submitted by Yoomin Lee, South Korea’s Delegate for the G(irls)20 Summit 2013 Moscow.

In Korea, women are referred as a Christmas cake. December 24th is the marketable day for a Christmas cake to be sold, the 25th is day for the word “somehow”, and when it comes to 26th, the cake has almost lost its value as a “Christmas cake”. Korean women are viewed the same way. After the age of 25 and for some even before, Korean women’s value in the workplace depreciates and they are left to feel like they live below a glass ceiling when they try to a step forward into the working world.

The contribution of the economy by women and men is frequently not viewed in the same way since they do not regard women as the equal agents of economic activity with men. This old custom is held as the primary cause of inequality in the gender gap. Korea is a prime example of such disparity, and suffers more so because of the vicious impact of Confucianism over the centuries, that places premium value on men. As such, companies in Korea are now considering hiring women as a duty to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) rather than a necessity. This, in my opinion, is a form of devaluation and abasement beyond words.

Companies have been trying to improve their image to society through CSR, but their efforts have not been as fruitful as they should be. Porter and Kramer (2006), who brought out the concept of Created Shared Value (CSV) use several reasons to explain it. Firstly, companies fail to see the interdependence between society and businesses, since companies see CSR as an additional cost and burden. Secondly, from the outset, companies overlook CSR as a part of the company’s overall strategy. Most the efforts of CSR are superficial as it really only shows customers awards and publications to prove that they care about social issues, such as gender equality.

In order to take back from the loss of this phenomenon and have a positive and effective social and economic impact, now, it is vital to create the right connection between businesses and societies. Porter and Kramer have suggested that one of the best ways to create value is to select the best grantees. Personally, I believe that women are excellent candidates as they function as one of the most important innovators around the world. With this in mind, companies are able to find the two intersections of inside-out linkage (how a company’s value chain affects the communities where the firm operates) and outside-in linkage (the external social situation that influences corporations) which is a key factor of accomplishing CSV.

Korean companies must start to consider women as a dynamic economic force which has been ignored. Simply put, with one billion women expected to join the workforce over the next decade, companies who think about CSV need to actively engage women globally. Now, with the number of women in the world, we see the 3.5 billion ways to change and nurture the world.