Female employees account for nearly 9% of Korean defense companies

[Courtesy of Hanwha Systems]

Female employees accounted for nearly 9 percent of the workers at South Korean defense companies, up from 8 percent in 2020, as more women seek engineering majors and join the burgeoning industry.

According to the business reports of Korea’s five defense companies on Sunday, the number of female employees and their share have risen over the past three years. The five companies are Hanwha AeroSpace Co., Hanwha Systems Co., LIG Nex1 Co., Korea Aerospace Industries, Ltd. (KAI), and Hyundai Rotem Co.

There were a total of 1,383 female employees at the five defense companies in 2020, accounting for 8 percent of the entire workforce. In 2021, there were 1,426 female employees (8.1 percent) and 1,814 (8.9 percent) in 2022.

At this pace, the figure is expected to exceed 2,000 this year.

Of the five companies, female employees at Hanwha Systems account for up to 14 percent of the entire workers. There were 522 female employees at the company in 2020, taking up 14.1 percent of the entire workers, 546 (13.9 percent) in 2021, and 638 (14.8 percent) in 2022.

At LIG Nex1, female employees accounted for 9.9 percent of the entire workforce in 2020, which expanded to 10.2 percent in 2021, and 10.9 percent in 2022.

LIG Nex1 offers a coaching program to help female employees develop their careers.

The number of female employees at KAI ranged between 337 and 390 in the last three years to represent 6~7 percent of the entire workforce.

Hyundai Rotem had the lowest percentage of female employees among the five companies with 2~3 percent.

“Female talents are engaged in research and development work at the defense companies such as telecommunications, electronics, and systems, rather than weapons production,” said a female employee at a defense company.