BLOOMBERG
Hyundai Motor Co recruited female technicians for automobile manufacturing in South Korea for the first time, following union pressure to improve gender equality.
The world’s third-largest automaker hired six women out of 200 new technicians, the first time it allowed females to apply for the position since the company started in 1967, according to a statement from Korea Metal Workers’ Union.
Hyundai previously allowed women who were hired by subcontractors to work as temporary employees, until the arrangement was struck down by the Korean Supreme Court in 2012. Women now account for 2% of 28,000 technicians in Korea, mainly former temporary workers converted into regular employees, said Kim Min Jung, executive director of women’s activities at the union.
When Hyundai posted the position on its website unions and activists pushed the carmaker to increase the number of women it employed in Korea’s male-dominated society.