May 18, 2026
SEOUL – Six in 10 South Korean workers said they believe gender affects hiring, promotions and work assignments, according to a survey released Sunday by a labor rights group.
In a February survey of 1,000 workers aged 19 and older conducted by Workplace Gapjil 119, 60.7 percent of respondents said they believed workers were treated differently in hiring, promotions and task assignments based on gender.
By gender, 73.1 percent of female workers said they perceived gender disparities in the workplace, compared with 49.1 percent of male workers.
When asked why they believed workers were treated differently, the largest share, at 55.8 percent, cited gender stereotypes affecting task and duty assignments.
This was followed by 51.9 percent who said childbirth and child-rearing created career gaps, while 31.6 percent cited gender discrimination and prejudice in performance evaluations.
Another 16.3 percent said certain genders had fewer opportunities to gain leadership or managerial experience.
More than half of respondents (57.3 percent) said they had experienced gender discrimination at work. By gender, 67.5 percent of women and 47.6 percent of men said they had experienced such discrimination.
Among those respondents, only 47.6 percent were aware of the National Labor Relations Commission’s remedy system for workplace gender discrimination, while just 22 percent said they had sought help through the system.
According to data obtained from the Labor Ministry and released by Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Jang Cheol-min, corrective orders were issued in only seven of the 111 gender discrimination cases filed through the Labor Relations Commission’s remedy process between May 2022 and March 2026.
“To prevent the ban on workplace gender discrimination under the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act from becoming a dead letter, the legal standards for recognizing discrimination must be expanded and the Labor Relations Commission must take a more proactive approach in its rulings,” said Kang Eun-hee, an attorney with Workplace Gapjil 119.