{
  "id": 9769141,
  "title": "A HRW report shows how South Korean women face systemic barriers to climbing the career ladder",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/25/a-hrw-report-shows-how-south-korean-women-face-systemic-barriers-to",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-09-25T13:18:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "DW News",
    "slug": "dw-news",
    "url": "https://www.dw.com/en/a-hrw-report-shows-how-south-korean-women-face-systemic-barriers-to-climbing-the-career-ladder/a-79431285?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A Human Rights Watch report reveals that South Korean women experience systemic obstacles in advancing their careers. At age 27, a woman earns 8% less than her male counterparts, and by her late 50s, her earnings drop by 50%. South Korea has the highest gender pay gap among OECD countries since records began in 1992. The division of labor in the home directly translates to a division of labor in the workforce. Korean activist Min Hee Kim explains that the issue extends beyond women being paid less than men; as women age, the types of work available to them narrow, and the effects of lower pay, career breaks, and precarious jobs accumulate. The report interviewed 41 South Korean women aged 28 to 87 about their working lives. Discrimination has evolved rather than vanished; while it's no longer legal for employers to fire women solely for getting married, caregiving responsibilities still burden women, pushing them into lower-paid jobs when they return to work. Women's university attainment has surpassed men's since the 1980s, but job market disparities persist. One year after graduation, women earn 22% less than men, according to a 2024 study. Women held only 18% of manager positions in 2024 and just five of 38 senior civil servant roles. South Korean women's wages peak in their late 30s and then steadily decline. The government considers career interruptions, occupational segregation, and discrimination within organizations as drivers of the wage gap. Kim points to structural discrimination as a root cause, which is so ingrained in social practices and institutions that even those affected may not recognize it as a problem. The mandatory retirement age and the peak wage system, which enables employers to reduce older workers' pay in the years before retirement, should be abolished, according to HRW. The wage disadvantage builds stage by stage, from a woman's first paycheck to her pension. Kim argues that the issue extends beyond middle-aged women's difficulty finding jobs; it impacts the entire life cycle of a woman, from her first paycheck to her pension.",
  "summary": "A new report shows how in South Korea, women on average earn less and have fewer employment opportunities throughout their lives.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 3,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Daily Maverick",
        "title": "POLICY GAPS OP-ED: More guns won’t make South African women safer, but stronger controls will",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/25/policy-gaps-op-ed-more-guns-wont-make-south-african-women-safer-but",
        "published": "2026-09-25T11:16:40.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "DW English (Top Stories)",
        "title": "A HRW report shows how South Korean women face systemic barriers to climbing the career ladder",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/25/a-hrw-report-shows-how-south-korean-women-face-systemic-barriers-to-9774455",
        "published": "2026-09-25T13:18:00.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}