Hyundai’s first female VP believes it's a great era for working women

The world wars in the last century forced women to step out and work in Europe and Northern America in the last century. However, in many Asian countries, it is still a taboo for most women to be breadwinners. Thankfully, a lot of women are now breaking these barriers and are emerging as successful businesswomen in many parts of the world.

Choi Myoung Wha, Hyundai’s first female VP, is one such woman. After graduating from the Korea University in 1988, Choi landed a job at Samsung Group through a special programme because of her degree in French literature. This was at a time when most companies in the country did not hire women during their recruitment process. Things are however, now looking up for women.

Park Geun Hye, South Korea’s first female president, has is pushing for more female managers in public service. She has also been working towards helping working mothers. According to a report by Bloomberg, Choi said in an interview: “It’s definitely a great era for working women… Society is biased in women’s favor because there hadn’t been a balance until recently.”

Talking about the working conditions being more favourable she added, “There is nothing in the world that becomes more difficult just because you are a woman. A successful person can ‘happen to be’ a woman; she isn’t successful ‘because’ she’s a woman or ‘despite’ being a woman.”

The Korea Herald>

In addition to a better working environment, the government has also been active in promoting working women. According to Bloomberg, the Korean government has set a goal to have more female managers in public service to 40 percent by 2017. However, the wage-gap continues to be a major barrier for women in Korea.

According to a study conducted by the Korean Women’s Development Institute, Korean employers with a higher number of women employees fared better on revenue growth and return on equity and sales than those that didn’t. Choi’s advice to working women is “My advice to women is to be more professional. The person sitting next to you is your colleague not your boyfriend, and your manager is your boss not your father.”

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Bloomberg

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-26/-great-era-for-women-in-korea-says-hyundai-s-first-female-vp.html