In every election, presidential candidates have promised to shatter glass ceilings and increase jobs for women. The ongoing 19th presidential election is no exception, reflecting the high social interests in this issue. How are things going at Korea’s major pharmaceutical companies, then?
JW PharmaceuticalJW중외제약 has snatched the dishonor of being ranked at the bottom among 10 largest drugmakers concerning their working conditions for women.
Korea Biomedical Review analyzed average working years of female employees at 10 major pharmaceutical companies in sales based on public notices they made last year. As a result, JW showed the average working years of 4.85 years for women, the shortest among the 10. Yuhan Corp. marked the longest period of 8.1 years.
The comparable figures for the other eight companies were 7.3 years for Dong-A ST동아ST, 7.1 years for Kwangdong Pharmaceutical광동제약, 6.8 years for LG Life ScienceLG생명과학, six years for Hanmi Pharm한미약품, 5.9 years each for Green Cross녹십자 and Jeil Pharmaceutical제일약품, 5.7 years for Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceutical종근당, and 5.4 years for Daewoong Pharmaceutical대웅제약.
The share of women working at JW Pharmaceutical was also smaller than other companies. Except for part-time employees, 223 women were working at the company, accounting for only 19 percent of the total 1,124 employees excluding part-timers. Only two among the 10 – JW and Kwang Dong – showed female workers’ shares hovering below 20 percent.
Daewoong Pharm showed the highest proportion of women workers of 30 percent or 462 women among 1,524 employees. Following Daewoong’s lead were Dong-A ST(446 of 1,602, 27.8 percent), Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceutical (509 of 1,882, 27.0 percent), LG Life Sciences (340of 1,282, 26.5 percent), Hanmi Pharm (542 of 1,247, 26.4 percent), Yuhan Corporation (394 of 1,660, 23 percent), Jeil Pharmaceutical (225 of 1,011, 22 percent), Green Cross (407 of 1,973, 20 percent), JW Pharmaceutical (223 of 1,124, 19 percent), and Kwang Dong Pharmaceutical (174 of 994, 17 percent)
“Experienced sales people are reluctant to work at JW Pharmaceutical. If a turnover rate of sale people is publicly announced, the company will be one of the companies showing high turnover rates,” said a drug salesman. “The company has frequently posted announcements to recruit salespeople. It may depend on individuals’ ability, but the frequent turnover mainly results from the small increase in their annual salary.”