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Gender discrimination in promotion [2008] KRNHRC 4 (1 January 2008)

Eleven female employees of Company including Kang filed a complaint on
gender discrimination regarding promotions. They claimed that male workers who had
joined the company in the same year with them were promoted to a manager or deputy
manager, while female workers were still a clerk or chief clerk.

The Commission found that since its foundation in the 1970s, Company had
assigned assistant duties such as typewriting, document preparation, and office cleaning to
female workers and main duties including sales, negotiation, and contracting to male
workers. In fact, Company has separately recruited employees according to the
division of duties from the beginning. In addition, promotion was made based on
education, military service record, and years of service. As a result, female workers who
had no chance to serve in the military or began to work right after high school graduation
were unfavorably treated in promotion.
Therefore, the Commission recommended that Compnay develop fair and
objective performance evaluation standards and an equal promotion system.