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Gender and Science in South Korea

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Gender and Science in South Korea Pulses BIEN2013, the International Conference of Women Scientists and Engineers, in Seoul, South Korea KWSE REFLECTIONS IN DIVERSITY Gender and Science in South Korea Junga Hwang and Hyunjoo Kim talk about gender inequality and pursuing a career in science in and out of South Korea. n 2013, South Korea elected its first woman president, Women in science in South Korea Geun-hye Park. President Park also happens to be I As a steering committee member of the Association of an engineer by training. Despite this exciting move Korean Women Scientists & Engineers (KWSE), Junga forward for professional women in South Korea, they regularly hears from her colleagues that they are concerned are still underrepresented in science and engineering. about the scarcity of women in their undergraduate science It’s not easy to identify an exact cause or a specific classes, as well as the large number of women researchers solution to the gender inequality problem for women and engineers who are not offered permanent employment in science, but there is tremendous value in seeing when they enter the workforce. how individuals encounter, challenge and overcome A recent statistical analysis conducted by KWSE this issue while pursuing their careers. Here, two highlights the gender imbalance in the field. The analysis women scientists from South Korea reflect on their revealed that: experiences: Junga Hwang trained for her career and remained in South Korea, while Hyunjoo Kim left her c The number of women students in undergraduate native South Korea to pursue a career in Germany science and engineering departments in South Korea and Switzerland. has remained at 27 percent for the past decade. 20 OPTICS & PHOTONICS NEWS APRIL 2016 Even today, when men and women are equally educated, this traditional separation is still very real.” “ —Junga Hwang c Over the same period, women have com- some of her male colleagues prised only 24 percent of all newly employed disregarded their female col- scientists. leagues, especially women work- ing in instrumentation. She also c Of those newly employed women, more observed that there were almost than half were hired as temporary employ- no women in tenured positions at ees, in contrast to the 76 percent of newly MPI despite there being a number employed male scientists gaining regular of female postdoctoral fellows. Courtesy of Junga Hwang permanent positions. Hyunjoo says work-life balance For women scientists that do secure perma- is more problematic for women than men, and is KWSE nent positions in South Korea, only 6 percent one of the main reasons that women leave their are in top-level management. Similarly, the jobs. She and many of her female colleagues have The Association percentage of women primary investigators for considered leaving academia at one point in their of Korean Women government and privately funded research also careers because of private-life demands. Luckily, Scientists & hovers at a low 7 percent. with special gender-equality programs, like the Engineers aims to enhance the What are the reasons behind this gender Minerva Program at Max Planck, many women scientific capacity imbalance? While it’s hard to identify specific scientists are finding the support they need to and uplift the causes, Junga believes the imbalance is prob- hold onto their jobs. Hyunjoo hopes to see even status of women ably linked to the sociocultural atmosphere in more programs designed to retain highly quali- in industry, South Korea. fied women scientists. academia Traditional gender roles in the country, Junga and research notes, say that men are responsible for their Reflections institutes. family’s economic livelihood and women are In the view of both Junga and Hyunjoo, gender KWSE’s Young responsible for the home. Even today, when men inequality in the sciences is not a problem that Woman Scientist and women are equally educated, this traditional belongs solely to South Korea. It’s a common Camp and separation is still very real—with an added problem, in varying degrees, worldwide. The two Smart Sister programs provide expectation for women: A married woman with scientists stress that women need to support each networking a degree is expected to get a job as well as serve other, share their success stories, and be more opportunities and as the hostess in the home, and be a devoted wife, assertive about their career goals; and that men- mentoring for the mother, daughter and daughter-in-law. However, tors and parents need to be more encouraging to next generation KWSE’s workforce survey shows that women female students who want to major in science and of women scientists who take time off from their careers technology. Junga tells her female mentees that scientists and to raise children generally do not reenter the if you want to survive as a woman scientist in engineers. working world. South Korea, you often need to work more than To learn twice as hard as a man with similar abilities. more, go to Training and working abroad Having women equally represented in science www.kwse.or.kr Hyunjoo Kim experienced a different point of and engineering fields is in everyone’s best inter- view when she left South Korea to pursue her est, according to Junga and Hyunjoo. After all, Ph.D. at a Max Planck Institute (MPI) in Germany. they note, evolution has shown that biodiversity is In general, she says, gender seemed unimportant, the key to maintaining a healthy ecosystem. OPN because all of the Ph.D. candidates were being trained as independent scientists. Gender played Junga Hwang ([email protected]) is with the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute. Hyunjoo Kim more of a role in her postdoctoral training at a ([email protected]) is with the University of different MPI—Hyunjoo’s perception was that Bern, Switzerland. APRIL 2016 OPTICS & PHOTONICS NEWS 21 .
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