Seoul National University (SNU), the largest public university in South Korea — where I have worked for nearly 40 years — has roughly 22,000 undergraduate students and a similar number of postgraduate students. Around 36% of undergraduates, and 49% of postgraduates, are women. The university’s 450-odd full-time female faculty members, by comparison, account for 19.7% of the total. As of 2022, nationally, across the academic, government and industry sectors, just 23% of the research workforce is female.

The fall in numbers that occurs during women’s research careers is a major concern. In South Korea, female students in STEM fields constitute 31% of university entrants, and as graduates — generally in their 20s — they are employed at similar rates to men in science and technology roles. But a significant gap emerges in their 30s and continues to their 50s, with a 30% difference in employment rates between men and women in these age groups. There are now roughly 180,000 women in science and technology roles in South Korea who are on a career break, whose return to workplace is urgently needed to shore up the country’s future in science and innovation.

Read more at: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-02690-1