Women heading companies on rise

Reflecting the growth of women`s participation in business activities, one out of three Korean companies is headed by a female president.

The National Statistical Office announced August 10 that a total of 981,000 companies were led by female presidents as of the end of last year. As a result, the percentage of female presidents among all Korean companies rose from 1997`s 32.4% to 33.6% in 1999.

Also, the number of the nation`s businesses as of the end of last year increased 4.9% to 2.92 million from 1998 and 2.4% from 1997.

NSO officials said that the number of women engaged in their own businesses is growing but that they still were concentrated in some specific business fields.

Among the businesses where female presidents are predominant are hotels and restaurants (64.3%), educational services (54.5%), wholesale and retail businesses (33.6%), and amusement and sports (26.9%). Women constitute only 12.4% of top managers in manufacturing businesses.