This Jan. 29 photo shows the Samsung Electronics headquarter in Seocho-gu, southern Seoul. Samsung Group, the largest conglomerate in South Korea by total assets, has two female members of the ownership family holding executive roles. (Yonhap)
This Jan. 29 photo shows the Samsung Electronics headquarter in Seocho-gu, southern Seoul. Samsung Group, the largest conglomerate in South Korea by total assets, has two female members of the ownership family holding executive roles. (Yonhap)

Women are taking on a larger share of management roles within chaebol ownership families, now accounting for 37 percent of executives and showing stronger representation among the next generation, a corporate tracker reported.

CEO Score said Wednesday that among 81 conglomerates with at least 5 trillion won ($3.5 billion) in assets, 370 members of their ownership families were serving in management as of January. Of those, 137 were women.

The data shows a more pronounced shift among younger heirs. In the "parent generation," 70 out of 202 executives were women, or 34.7 percent, while in the younger generation, women accounted for 39.9 percent, or 67 out of 168.

The report classified the parent generation as those in the same generation as the organization's current owner in 2025. Ownership families included immediate family, first cousins and relatives by marriage within the immediate uncle-aunt-nephew-niece range.

Among spouses of conglomerate heads, 42.6 percent were serving in executive roles.

The gender composition also varied by asset size. Women made up 31.8 percent of owner-family executives at the top 50 groups, while the bottom 40 showed a higher share at 42.9 percent.

At 25 conglomerates, women accounted for less than a quarter of owner-family executives. Nineteen had no women at all in such roles, including Hanhwa, the country’s seventh-largest group by assets, and major internet platform operator Naver.


minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com