Amcham celebrates International Women's Day with panel on female leadership

The American Chamber of Commerce in Korea co-hosted an event with the U.S. Embassy in Seoul inviting female corporate leaders to discuss ways to bolster opportunities for women.

From left, the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea (Amcham) Chairman James Kim, U.S. Embassy Seoul's Deputy Chief of Mission Joy Sakurai, Citibank Korea CEO Yoo Myung-soon, Procter & Gamble Korea's Senior Vice President Lee Chee-young and Christina Ahn, client partner of the consulting firm Korn Ferry, participate at a panel discussion on the empowerment of female leadership at an event hosted in central Seoul on Wednesday. [AMCHAM]

Female leaders active in the corporate scene emphasized the importance of bolstering the pipeline for female leadership at an event to celebrate International Women’s Day on Wednesday that was co-hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea (Amcham) and the U.S. Embassy in Seoul.

International Women’s Day falls on March 8 as designated by the United Nations.

Over 100 attendees participated in the panel discussion on boosting the economic empowerment of women. Citibank Korea CEO Yoo Myung-soon and Lee Chee-young, Senior Vice President of Procter & Gamble Korea, were invited as panelists to speak the event.

“Promoting women’s economic empowerment is a key priority for Amcham,” said the group's chair, James Kim, at the event held at the Four Seasons Hotel Seoul in central Seoul. “Now is the time to help establish Korea as a regional headquarters in Asia, and to turn this ambition into reality, it is crucial for Korea to maintain sustainable and inclusive economic growth, which requires a significant investment in advancing women’s economic empowerment.”

Yoo encouraged female leaders to form their own networks so that opportunities could be given to their juniors.

“In many cases the pipelines are weak and when you want to promote or when you want to give opportunities to a female, well, there’s no pipeline,” Yoo said. “So I think we really have to focus on building the pipeline in every level, every area, so that female leadership could be ready when we really want to come to them.”

Lee also emphasized the establishment of a stable corporate system to provide a balanced family and work life for employed women.

“I have worked and moved around different countries [at this company] but my husband did not join me throughout all of that, so there were periods that we chose to do a split family,” Lee said. “However, one of the things that really helped me was my manager or the company recognizing the life stage changes that I was going through, especially with the kids from very young babies or when having to put them through new schools.

“I think it wasn’t just about gender that they were recognizing, but it was recognizing that everybody can go through lifestyle changes and the changes come with different set of difficulties. So managers and the system that supports that, I think, was a great enabler for me.”

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]