Mainstreaming Women Physicist in Korea
and Supporting Policy of Korean government
for women in S&T

Youngah Park
Department of Physics, Myongji UniversityInternational Workshop
on Asian Networking of Women in Science and Technology
Nagoya, September 29, 2006

Contents
1. Status of Women in Science andtechnology in Korea
2. Women Physicists in Korea
3. Activities of Women in Physics Committeeof the Korean Physical Society (KPS)
4. Fostering and Supporting Policy forwomen in S& T

1

I. Status of Women in S&T in Korea

FemaleTotal

66%

Arts & Physical Education
Pharmacy

34%

Medical Science
Living Science

6%

Agriculture & Fisheries

44%

Natural Sciences

1%

Engineering

52%

Education

9%

Social Sciences

34%

Humanities
05000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

<1970>

Number of Students and percentage of Female students by major ( 1970)(note) Natural Science majors include living science.

I. Status of Women in S&T in Korea
FemaleTotal

53%

Arts & Physical Education
Pharmacy 56%
Medical Science

51%

Living Science74%

Agriculture & Fisheries 33%
Natural Sciences

37%

Engineering

13%
61%

Education

37%

Social Sciences

57%

Humanities
0100000

200000300000400000500000? ? ?

<2005>

Number of Students and percentage of Female students by major (2005)

2

I. Status of Women in S&T in Korea
CollegeUniversitymasterPh. D(%)
3230
2826242220181614(Y ear )

12
1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

Percentage of female students of majoring in S&T

I. Status of Women in S&T in Korea
Employment rate versus S&T degree level(%)
Male Ph.D.

90

Female Ph. D.
80

MaleMale-Master70

Female Master

60

Male Bachelor

50

Female Bachelor

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

[ Annual Education Report (1999~2004) ]3

I. Status of Women in S&T in Korea

Employment Status for S&T Faculty members.

I. Status of Women in S&T in Korea
Percentages of S&T bachelors and female rate (%).......

USA
16 (35.2)

Japan

FinlandGermany

Sweden26 (13)28 (27.2)

29 (26.9)

28 (34.5)

Korea
39 (30.4)

percentage of S&T employers and female rate (%)
Korea .........
17 (35.4)

USA

FinlandGermany

Switzerland

Sweden33 (56.8)

34 (53.9)

36 (51)38 (45.9)

39 (51.1)

Increase rate of S&T employers and female rate(%)
Switzerland

GermanyUSA................
Korea

1.5 (3)

1.5 (2)2 (1)3.2 (1)(※Period:1995~2004).....

Ireland

Spain

7 (4)

7.5 (8)[ OECD Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard 2005 ( from MOSTMOST report)]4II. Status of Women in Physics in Korea
TotalFemale
20000

15000

10000

5000

18%
13%
019%

18%
1975

1985

29%

19%

1990

1995

2000

2005

Number of four-year physics-majoring student from 1975~2005

Number of Students majoring in Physics from 1975-2005

II. Status of Women in Physics★ Women in Physics in Asia, 2002

Korea has
the highest undergraduate women percentage andlowest professional women percentage

5

Statistics of the Korean PhysicalSociety Membership• Number of KPS members :8704• Number of Women KPS members: 955• Women Professors < 30( less than 5% of male professors)• even with a recent women faculty
employment of more than 10 female
professors.

II. Status of Women in Physics★ Member by age and gender
Number of members

Members by age and gender
2000
Male
1500

Female

1000
500
020-

25-

30-

35-

40-

45-

50-

55-

60-

65-

70-

Age group

Total of 1195 members participated :response rate 16.3%
157 women members out of 955 :response rate 16.5%

Senior women physicists are very rare!

6III. Activities of Women in Physics Committeeof the Korean Physical Society

More Women needed in Korea for the 21st Century
development in Knowledge-based Society!
1.“Women”: Growth engine of Korea to open GNI per capita$20,000 stage (at present 15,000$)
2. With rapid decrease of economically active population,
women need to be utilized in all areas including S& T
3. Physics need to be promoted to create
innovative science and technology.
-> Women in physics need to be attracted and retained

III. Activities of Women in Physics Committeeof the Korean Physical Society (KPS)

International Conference on Women
Physics, March 2002, Paris

The Establishment ofWomen in Physics Committee of KPS,April 2002, Busan, Korea

7

III. Activities of Women in Physics Committeeof the Korean Physical SocietyFirst KPS-WISE
Physics camp for High School Girl Students, 2002

Physics camp for high school
girl students 2003-2006

8

III. Activities of Women in Physics Committee ofthe Korean Physical Society (KPS)• Annual Awards for the excellent Female Master
degree and Ph.D Graduate students from 2006

• Morning forum offemale membersof KPS, April 2006

III. Activities of Women in Physics Committee ofthe Korean Physical SocietyInternational Collaboration and Networking• International workshop on
Asian Women in Physics,2005, Pohang,• Establishment of Working
Group on Women inPhysics of Association ofAsia Pacific PhysicalSocieties, Osaka, 2006

9IV. Fostering and Policy Development for
Women in S&T
1987 Equal Employment Act, Ministry of Labor
2001 Science and Technology Framework Law, Ministry of Science andTechnology (MOST)
2001 “Women Scientist of the Year Award” found, MOST
2001 “WISE” Women into Science and Engineering” established, Ministry ofEducation and Human Resources Development (MOE)
2002 “Act on Fostering and Supporting Women Scientists, Engineers andTechnologists" legislated, MOST
2002 “Recruitment Target System for Women in Science and Technology”
introduced, MOST
2003 "Recruitment Target System for Female Faculty" introduced and applied
to the national and public universities, MOE
2005 “National Institute for Supporting Women in Science andTechnology (NIS-WIST)” launched, MOST

IV. Fostering and Supporting Policy forWomen in S&T
Promoting Women into S&T◈ Female friendly Science Education Program- National widely 10 WISE (Women Into Science andEngineering) Center established- Women’s Academy for Technology Challenger in the
21th century (2005, 300,000$)◈ Affirmative action for utilizing women in S&T- Recruitment target system readjusted (2005, MOST)
2002

2002

2002

10%

10%

10%

30%

10

IV. Fostering and Supporting Policy for Women inS&T◈ Promotion Target System for 99 Government Supported S&T
Research Institutes with more than 20% female employers.
99 Goveerment
Supported S&T
Research

Academia(public + Private)

Industry(public + Private)

Total

NO.

Percentage

NO.

Percentage

NO.

Percentage

NO.

Percent
age

2002

1,572

11.2%

9,255

16.1%

11,230

9.5%

22057

11.6%

2003

1,610

11.2%

9,763

16.3%

11,2409.7%

22,613

11.4%

2004

2,200

14.0%

10,10316.8%

12,895

9.6%

25,19812.0%

Status of Utilizing women resources in S&T sectors, MOST

IV. Fostering and Supporting Policy for Women inS&T
Total Faculties
NO.

Women

Increment

2002

6,808

2003

6,992

184

2004

7,335

343

NO.

Increment

Recruitment

Employment

470

94.9%

6.7%

522

52

15.2%

7.1%

461

6.8%

Result of the RTS for female faculties in 44 Public and National Univ.,Year

No. of Recruitment

Ratio of Women

Total

Women

among the Total

2003

31413%

2004

34926%

Apr 2005

15640%A case of success: KIST, NIS-WIST

11Fostering and Supporting Policyfor Women in S&T• 30% of Scholarship allocated for female studentsin S&T ( ’06 25million $)• Supporting program for leading university infemale engineering students (’06 400,000$)• Affirmative policy for female Principal
Investigator in National Research Development
project12