Women in South Korea: a new perspective on the careers of women in science and technology and why women aren’t good at what disciplines they do

The fall in numbers that occurs during women’s research careers is a major concern. As a result of this, female students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields make up 29% of university entrants and they are employed at the same rate as their male counterparts. In their 50s there is a significant gap in employment between men and women, with a 30% difference. There are now roughly 180,000 women in science and technology roles in South Korea who are on a career break, whose return to workplace is urgently needed to shore up the country’s future in science and innovation.

Alex James, a mathematician at the University of New Zealand who leads the latest studies on the phenomenon, believes that people just believe that some disciplines are better than others. “And it turns out that ones that we think are a bit rubbish are all full of women.”

Using data to highlight biases is not enough according to McGee. “One has to dismantle the field and rebuild it with women and women of colour leading the effort, but people do not want to give up or share their power,” she says.

And in 2015, researchers found that women were under-represented in fields in which success was perceived as requiring raw, innate talent — such as mathematics or philosophy — compared with disciplines in which people thought success could be gained through hard work3.

Evidence policy in South Korea: The impact of a biomedical researcher’s research funding on research careers and research careers in the next decade

Rachael Murray, a biomedical scientist at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, says that the studies in this area highlight the complexities involved. “We don’t yet fully understand where all the issues lie,” she says. She adds that institutions and funding bodies have an obligation to look at the data they have and find problems that need addressing.

In New Zealand, the study was the subject of discussions at the Ministry of Education. A panel that reviewed the PBRF met with researchers and took their findings into account, according to the general manager of evidence policy at the ministry in Wellington.

Retention is one issue, but it is not the only problem in South Korea. Out of the roughly 49,000PIs in the country who are pursuing research projects, 17.7% are female. This number needs to increase at least two-fold over the next decade to reflect the proportion of female PhD students.

It is important that the amount of funding available to them is also as important as the number of PIs. In South Korea’s universities, the average amount of government funding won by male science and technology researchers is over 130,000 dollars a year. For women, that figure is 67 million won.