Old barriers more easily broken in IT division
Women are increasingly found at the executive level in information-technology firms. Compared with the 3.3 percent of female executives at large private firms and state-run companies, the figure in the information-technology industry ranges from 5 to 10 percent. On July 1, the first female executive was named at Daewoo Information Systems, forty-three-year-old Song Hee-kyung, who heads the company’s ITO Solution Team. Song started her business career at Daewoo Group in 1987, working for 20 years to gain her current post. For a female employee who began her career as a newcomer at Daewoo affiliates, Song is the first to become an executive. In an international telephone interview on July 21, Song said, "When I heard the news of my promotion to an executive, I was calmer than I had previously thought I would be. For an information-technology company, performance is recognized regardless of gender," she said. "Compared with manufacturing and construction companies, employee assessment is clearer [in information-technology companies]."On the same day, Song visited Shenyang, China and signed a memorandum of understanding with a local information-technology company, NEU Soft, for business collaboration. In February, Dongbu Information Systems named its first female executive. Executive vice president Oh Se-hyun, 43, was appointed as chief technology officer of the company. She is the first female executive at Dongbu in its 37-year existence. She is not the only success story in her family; her brother is Oh Se-hoon, Seoul City Mayor. Like these examples, female executive are increasing at mid-sized information-technology companies. In the past, only one or two female were executives at large information-technology companies with annual sales of over a trillion won (1 billion USD). KT has three female executives, including executive vice-president Lee Young-hee. SK Telecom’s executive vice president Yoon Song-yi is already well known. In addition, Samsung SDS, which named its first female executive in 1997, has two female executives. LG CNS, which had no female executive until 2001, now has three female executives. Internet portal companies are also joining the trend. Including Moon Hyo-eun, vice president of Daum Communications, a number of female executives are working at SK Communications, Yahoo Korea, and Empas. Such improvement in the promotion of female executives at information-technology companies can be attributed to the industry’s characteristics, as it is a new and flourishing industry, thus paving the way for pure performance to be assessed, rather than past standards such as academic background or gender. Lee Myung-kwan, executive vice president of LG CNS’s human resources and management support division, said, "Women are performing well in the information-technology industry, which requires a great deal of accuracy."
