The “glass ceiling” refers to a barrier ― invisible, yet unbreakable ― that prevents women from climbing the corporate ladder. But many highly educated Koreans are denied access to the corporate ladder itself, let alone rising above the glass ceiling, simply because they are women.

A recent recruitment survey shows how much Korean women are discriminated against in their search for jobs. According to the poll, women accounted for 18.5 percent of those fresh out of university that were recruited by the nation’s 10 largest companies last year.

The rate was abysmally low at a time when women that graduated from university outnumbered male graduates, albeit by a small margin. Even more disconcerting, some corporations reportedly demanded that universities exclude women graduates in their recommendations for recruitment.

Worse still, those women that are fortunate enough to be employed are paid far less than their male counterparts. According to a recent report on wage gaps between men and women, Korea ranks worst among member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Women are paid 62 percent of the amount their male counterparts get. The report says the pay gap is widening, not narrowing.

No wonder Korea ranks so low in the World Economic Forum’s 2012 gender equality survey of 135 countries, in particular in the category of economic opportunities. Korea is 107th place in the overall ranking, three notches lower than last year. It ranks 117th in economic opportunities.

The corporate sector’s shortsightedness is the main culprit. Companies tend to shun employing women because they have to make additional payments in the form of paid maternity leave, child care support and so forth. But they ignore the fact that the failure to tap this reservoir of potential talent, not by the companies alone, but by the society as a whole, will ultimately affect their bottom line.

Much of the abundant resources that are allocated for the education of women will go down the drain if they are not allowed to participate in economic activities. Such losses, a cause of slowdown in growth, will be all the more deplorable, given that labor will be in short supply in the future, with the birthrate remaining far below the replacement rate and the population graying fast in the nation. Moreover, it is brains that are in greater demand than brawn in modern society.

It goes without saying that the government, which has long abolished gender discrimination in its recruitment and pay, will have to make greater efforts for gender equality in the corporate sector as well. In other words, it needs to subsidize maternity leave and child care for women employed by corporations.

But it is ultimately women that will have to empower themselves to make all the changes needed for gender equality. First of all, they need to organize themselves into political activist groups to make their voices heard in decision making.

Much needs to be done in this regard, given that women are underrepresented in politics, as they are in other sectors. The number of women members of the National Assembly is 45, a mere 15.1 percent of the total.

The number could have doubled if political parties had respected the nonbinding recommendation, written in the election law, that they nominate women for a minimum of 30 percent of electoral districts when the parliamentary elections were held in 2008. But the actual rates were below 8 percent for the biggest two parties.

As some women’s groups demand, the recommendation needs to be made into a statutory requirement. But women’s groups will have to fight for the change. They cannot expect that it will be handed to them on a plate.

The change will be made possible when women’s groups turn themselves into formidable voting blocs and exercise duly gained influence for their cause in the April parliamentary elections.

Such political empowerment is a necessity, not a choice, when it comes to gender equality. It must be noted that gender equality cannot be an issue of gender conflict. It is good for the nation, not just women.