A male employee who recently joined the agricultural machinery manufacturer LS Mtron found the company's atmosphere, characterized by a male-dominated environment, familiar. He had no difficulties adjusting. He graduated from an engineering school with many male students and was well aware of this fact even before joining. However, he said, "While a male-heavy organization is very familiar to me, I am unsure how it might be for female employees."
Surveys have shown that the percentage of male employees among the total workforce in major agricultural machinery corporations in Korea exceeds 90%. An analysis of the first half reports from the top three domestic agricultural machinery corporations, including Daedong, TYM, and LS Mtron, by ChosunBiz on the 26th revealed that the proportion of male employees at these companies surpassed 90%.
Daedong, the top agricultural machinery company with sales exceeding 1.4 trillion won, had 948 male employees and 59 female employees, resulting in a male employee ratio of 94%. TYM had 836 male employees and 90 female employees (a male employee ratio of 90%), while LS Mtron reported 1,072 male employees and 36 female employees, reaching a male employee ratio of 96%.
The situation in the machine tool industry was similar. Looking at the gender composition of SMEC, a machine tool company with sales in the 200 billion won range, there were 161 male employees and 23 female employees in the mechanical division, while the ICT division had 27 male employees and 1 female employee. The overall male employee ratio for the company was 88%. Hwacheon Machinery also had 233 male employees and 27 female employees, making the male employee ratio 89%.
The high percentage of male members in the agricultural and machine tool sectors is primarily because most research and production personnel have backgrounds in mechanical and electronic engineering. The prevalence of physical labor in these industries has also contributed. Female employees in these corporations were mainly responsible for human resources, general affairs, and management roles.
Choi Se-rim, a research fellow at the Korea Labor Institute (KLI), noted, "The agricultural and machine tool industries are located in rural areas, have long working hours, and involve a high degree of physical labor, leading to a low number of female candidates. As a result, this naturally results in a high male ratio."
The salaries of male employees at the three agricultural machinery companies were also, on average, more than 6 million won higher than those of female employees. The average salary for male employees at LS Mtron was 34 million won, while that for female employees was 23 million won, resulting in a gap of 11 million won. Daedong showed a nearly 6 million won gap, with male salaries at 39.74 million won and female salaries at 33.76 million won. TYM reported similar figures with male salaries at 37 million won and female salaries at 31 million won.
In the machine tool sector, the average salary for male employees at SMEC was 27.24 million won, about 7 million won higher than the 20.46 million won for female employees. In the ICT division, male salaries were 22.85 million won and female salaries were 20.88 million won. Hwacheon Machinery's male average salary stood at 37.27 million won, yielding a difference of 1.2 million won with female salaries at 25.40 million won.
Corporations explain this gap as a "difference in tenure and job characteristics." They state that since many male employees work in field and research positions, their longer tenure leads to salary differences. The male tenure at LS Mtron was 13 years, nearly 5 years longer than the female average of 8 years. Daedong showed an average difference of 1.5 years, TYM had a difference of 3 years, and Hwacheon Machinery showed a difference of 6 years.
Experts believe that a high male ratio could be a burden for female workers but caution that an indiscriminate increase in female representation should be approached carefully.
Choi Jang-ho, a professor at Sogang University's Business Administration department, stated, "In manufacturing industries such as agricultural machinery, there isn't a significant difference in the ratio of male to female workers abroad, but Korea still has a strong male-centered manufacturing culture, resulting in a high male ratio within organizations." He added, "In a situation where female workers are not seeking employment in the agricultural or machine tool industries, an indiscriminate expansion of the female ratio should be approached with caution."