Samsung is facing flak from shareholders over the paltry representation of women at board level. There are no women among internal directors and only two outside directors.

Nikkei Asia reports that a female shareholder took the company to task at its annual shareholder meeting. “Samsung is a company that represents South Korea, but it has no female directors. Isn’t that too conservative?”

Samsung isn’t alone in South Korea with this problem. Women have had difficulties attaining senior roles throughout the country’s history. That doesn’t say they haven’t tried.

Perhaps the first to shake the glass ceiling was Queen Seondeok of Silla, situated around the east coast of now South Korea, who around 650AD challenged the king, her father, over his wish to install his son-in-law as successor.

She became queen but legend has it that a coup was organised to dethrone her, although she managed to reign 15 years until her death.

In modern times, Korea had to wait until after World War II for its first female lawyer, Lee Tai-young, to graduate. She was disbarred for her activities in civil liberties but, through her persistence, later in life was among South Korea’s first female judges.

Other companies in South Korea are also reluctant to appoint female board members; Hyundai appointed its first female internal board member as recently as 2021. LG Electronics has none.

The situation remains grim with Nikkei Asia reporting that there are only 25 women directors among South Korea’s top 30 companies. South Korea ranks 28th out of 29 nations that make up this year’s OECD’s “glass ceiling index”.

It’s not only board positions. Women face discrimination when applying for ordinary jobs. CNN reported the case of a woman attending an interview for a regular sales job.

“Women aren’t fit to work in sales,” the interviewer told her. “You’re a woman, why would you pursue a job in this industry?”, CNN reports.

Samsung and South Korea are still going ahead in other ways, for example by encouraging staff to learn foreign languages.

The Korean Herald reports that Samsung Electronic chair Lee Jae-yong told employees in its Device Experience section that the company would fully reimburse conversation test fees for staff learning English, Vietnamese, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and Russian as well as Korean.

Samsung offers internal testing for foreign language skills that can aid an employee getting a promotion or an overseas business assignment.

“I regret not studying foreign languages more. I speak English and Japanese, and I try hard not to forget them. But I also wish I had studied Chinese and French,” The Korean Herald reported Lee saying.