Among the top 15 domestic drug companies, Kwangdong Pharmaceutical has the lowest share of woman employees, industry data showed. Coming next was Il-yang Pharmaceutical that has no female executives.

According to the 15 companies’ first-half business reports submitted to the Financial Supervisory Service, female employees represented just 17.9 percent of the total workforce at Kwangdong. It was the only firm among the 15 that had the number standing below 20 percent.

At Il-yang where there was no female executive, women took up 22 percent of all employees.

The average salary at Kwangdong was 28 million won ($25,000) -- 29 million won for men, and 20 million won for women. That of Il-yang was 27 million won -- 28 million won for men, and 21 million won for women.

The annual remuneration of registered directors per person, excluding outside directors and members of the auditing committee, stood at 169 million won at Kwangdong, and 106 million won at Il-yang.

The proportion of women workers was relatively higher, exceeding 30 percent, at Handok, Celltrion, Huons, Dongkook Pharmaceutical, Ildong Pharmaceutical, and Boryung Pharmaceutical. However, Huons and Ildong did not have any woman executive, either.

“Not only the share of woman workers is important but what kind of job they do. There is a wide gap in salaries among temporary and regulator workers, and that is why they feel their salaries do not match with the disclosed data,” an industry official said.

At Handok, female employees represented 42.4 percent of all workers. “The relatively high proportion of females at Handok seems to have come from the corporate culture influenced by joint management with a German drugmaker,” the official said. “In contrast, Kwangdong and Il-yang have more conservative and hierarchical culture even among local pharmaceuticals.”