International Workshop on Women and Science/Technology Network in Asia

Opening the Policy Window:
In case of the WISE Policy in Korea
韓國 女性科學者 支援 政策 展開過程
September 30 2006

Lee, Eun Kyoung (李恩京)
Chonbuk National University
eklee@chonbuk.ac.kr

Contents
Overview of WISE Policy in Korea
The 1st Wave of Korean WISE Policy¾ Birth of the some WISE Programs
The 2nd Wave of Korean WISE Policy¾ Institutionalization of the WISE Policy
The 3rd Wave of Korean WISE Policy

1GlossaryWISE
women into science & engineering

WISE Policy
all programs as a whole with the purpose to support women scientistsand engineers“WISE program”
individual program to encourage more girls to choose S&T for theirmajors

GRIs
Government-Supported Research Institutes engineers

MOST
the Ministry of Science & Technology

Overview of WISE Policy in Korea
Ministry of Science&Technology
科學技術部,MOST

Ministry of Gender Equity
女性家族部
MOGEF

Korea Science & Engineering Foundation
韓國科學財團(KOSEF)
Women-Only
Research Grants& othersschoolsNational Institute for Supporting
Women in S&T Center ( NIS-WIST)
女性科學技術人支援Center
R&D institutions

Private companies“WISE” Center

home & parents

Basic Plan of Promotion & Support for Women Scientists & Engineers(女性科學技術I人 育成 & 活用 基本計劃, 2004~2008)

Act on Fostering and Supporting Female Scientists & Engineers,
Technologists (女性科學技術人 育成 & 支援 法律, 2002)
Basic Law of Science & Technology (科學技術基本法, 2001)
5-year Basic Plan for S&T(科學技術基本計劃)

2

The 1st Wave of Korean WISE Policy¾ Fund for R&D infrastructure of leading women’s(since 1997)

universities¾Fund for research grants to unemployed women scientists with
Ph.D. degrees (2000)
Women-OnlyGrants¾Women only Research Fund for good women scientists at regularpositions (2000)¾New DB of women scientists and engineers (2001)¾“WISE Program” for more girls to S&T by mentoring, girls’ sciencecamp, “girl friendly science course” etc.(2001)¾10% quota of new employment at GRIs (since 2001) Æ notcompulsory, administrative recommandation

girl friendlyscience
Women Quota

The 1st Wave of Korean WISE Policy
the first programs for women scientists and engineers efforts of leading women scientists topersuade high policy-makers
 rapid growth of women educated andLeadershippressure group

working in S&T through 1990ssocial & political democratization, growing
consciousness of women’s rights, starting
gender-mainstreaming

Social context ofdemocratization

3

The 1st Wave of Korean WISE PolicyNo legal basisdependent upon the will of particular policy makers
Æ therefore insecureunorganized, unsystematic, sporadicsymbolic importance as a starting of WISE policy

Opening a Policy Window
 Avoidance of S&T among Students (from 2001)
9 Preference of medical science, avoiding science andengineering
9 Crisis discourse of S&T
9 Worrying about the future lack of S&T personnel
9 Emphasis on new human resources in S&T
9Then which group under-utilized? ÆWomen !!!
Providing rationale of necessity of WISE policy
Leaders did not miss the opportunity

4The 2nd Wave of Korean WISE Policy
 Legitimation¾ Enactment of Basic Law of Promotion & Support for Women
Scientists & Engineers (女性科學技術人 育成 & 支援 法律, 2002)¾

Stabilized, Justified to apply the government budget

 Systematization¾ Establishment of Basic Plan of Promotion & Support for Women
Scientists(for every 5years)¾ Covering the whole stages of women scientist’s life
¾ New of Agents to plan and carry on programs: National Institutefor Supporting Women in S&T Center ( NIS-WIST) 女性科學技術
人支援Center

5-Year-Basic Plan
K-12

¾Girl-friendly science.
¾“WISE” program: mentoring, camp..

¾more girls toS&TBA, MA¾Mentoring¾Training for S&T related jobs
¾ internship, job information¾preparefor career¾employment

Ph.D. before
full-time job¾ grants to continue R&D¾Quota system for employment (GRIs,National Universities¾Keep careerdeveloping

the established¾Promotion quota for GRIs over glassCeiling¾Women only research fund

¾Staying at theirpositions

For re-entry¾ job-training and retraining¾ various
career paths

infrastructure¾ gender-specified statistics¾ survey on the working conditions¾ policy evaluation, research¾ specialized agent institutions

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Waiting for the 3rd Wave
 Beyond nominal and symbolic meaning Toward real and practically effective policy

Problems¾ Better gender-disaggregated statistics to figure out
the real situationfrom 2005,

Report in then Status of Women in Science and Engineering¾ More women into engineering¾ Cooperating with other ministries (beyond MOST)¾ Incorporating WISE policy into other measures(ex. Childcare, labour market…)

Women in S&T Education (BA)60,00050,000Eng(total)

40,000NS(total)

30,00057%

20,000NS(F)10,000Eng(F)

25%

0
1970

1975

1980

1985

1990

1995

2000

2005

6

Women in S&T Education (MA)
16000
Eng(total)

14000
12000

工學士(合)

10000
8000

NS(total)

6000
4000

44%
NS(F)

2000
0

10%

Eng(F)

1970

1975

1980

1985

1990

1995

2000

2005

Women in S&T Education (Ph.D.)
2500
工學(合)
Eng(total)

2000
1500

NS(total)

1000

34%

500

NS(F)

7%

Eng(F)

01970

1975

1980

1985

1990

1995

2000

2005

7

Employment of Women in S&T
R&D• 3.1% of totalPI(primaryinvestigator) is female

R&D personnel(FTE, 2005)
Female 11%
Male 89%• Projects per PI
M 2.99 vs. F 1.64

[科學技術硏究開發活動調報告]

Female ratio in University Faculty(2005)

totalregularNS

10.2% 20.5%

Eng
3.7%

Non-tenuretrack

29.7% 46.6% 19.4%

Part time

18.1% 33.4% 11.1%•low security,•low income,•Not easy to access toR&D resources

Employment of Women in S&T
At 200 biggest private companies(2004)
I.

Small portion of women at private companies

Only 14% of workers in S&T at private companies is female

II.

High proportion of women is doing non-S&T jobs
F: 80% vs. M 36% : doing non-S&T jobs

III. Lower Qualification Æ Lower Status & Income
5% of female S&T personnel is MA (4.7%) and Ph.D.(0.3%)
9% of male S&T personnel is MA (8%) and Ph.D.(1%)

8Thank you for your attention

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