South Korea plans 'name and shame' policy against companies with few women
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 04 February, 2014, 3:24pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 04 February, 2014, 3:25pm
Staff Reporter
South Korea President Park Gyeun-hye at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. Photo: Bloomberg
South Korea will adopt a name-and- shame policy, publicly identifying firms that employ low numbers of women, as the nation’s first female president aims to create 1.65 million additional jobs for women, according to Bloomberg.
Companies with at least 500 workers and whose female workforce comprises less than 70 per cent of their industry’s average for three years in a row may be publicly named, in an effort to tackle gender inequality in the workplace, the report cited government ministries as saying.
It said more details of the scheme, led by President Park Gyeun-hye will be released in December.
The government would also encourage flexible working hours, enhance childcare programmes, and improve training for mothers seeking to re-enter the workforce, and would set up a database of 100,000 female recruits by 2017 to help improve gender equality at senior levels in the public and private sectors, Bloomberg quoted the ministries as saying.
As part of the initiative, the government will provide more subsidies for parents on childcare leave and preferential treatment on government contracts for “family friendly” companies, the report said.
