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Good practice Imported

South Korea's Gender-Separated Wage Disclosure via the Gender Equality Basic Act (2020)

South Korea · Seoul · See the South Korea profile · See the Seoul profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 42% 74/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

South Korea's May 2020 Gender Equality Basic Act amendment made listed firms disclose gender-separated pay via DART. Large business-group affiliates' reported gap narrowed from 30.7% (2022) to 26.3% (2023), but OECD still ranks Korea's gap the widest in the bloc.

35.9 %
Disclosed gender pay gap among listed companies (2020)
36.7 %
Disclosed gender pay gap among listed companies (2019)
30.7 %
Disclosed pay gap among large business-group affiliates (2022)
26.3 %
Disclosed pay gap among large business-group affiliates (2023)
20.6 % year-on-year
Women's average pay growth (2022-2023)
13.6 % year-on-year
Men's average pay growth (2022-2023)
29-30 %
Economy-wide gender wage gap (2025 OECD assessment)
South Korea's Gender-Separated Wage Disclosure via the Gender Equality Basic Act (2020)

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Ministry of Gender Equality and Family / Financial Supervisory Service DART system
Period
2020-present
Keywords
corporate disclosure, labour market regulation, gender pay equity

Context

In May 2020, South Korea amended its Gender Equality Basic Act (양성평등기본법) to require companies to disclose gender-separated wage statistics through the DART electronic disclosure system, with the obligation taking effect that November.

Activities

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family's own tracking shows the disclosed gap among listed companies, and follow-on reporting has tracked the largest business-group affiliates (companies in conglomerates with combined assets over 5 trillion won) more closely, based on Korea Herald's analysis of 2,647 companies' Financial Supervisory Service filings.

Results

The Ministry's tracking shows the disclosed gap among listed companies at 35.9% in 2020, down 0.8 points from 36.7% in 2019. Among large business-group affiliates, the disclosed gender pay gap fell from 30.7% in 2022 to 26.3% in 2023, driven by women's average pay rising 20.6% year-on-year versus 13.6% for men.

Conclusions

Despite this narrowing, the OECD's 2025 gender equality assessment still identifies Korea's gender wage gap (around 29-30% economy-wide) as the largest in the OECD, and flags pay transparency and stronger anti-discrimination enforcement as ongoing priorities — a bill to expand disclosure requirements further (the 'Five Gender-Equal Wage Disclosure Laws') was submitted to the National Assembly in 2025 partly because the existing mechanism was judged insufficient on its own.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k)
Time to results
Medium (1–3 years)
Staffing & skills
Administered via the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and the Financial Supervisory Service's DART electronic disclosure system

Conditions for success

  • Piggybacks on existing mandatory corporate securities-disclosure infrastructure (DART)
  • Applies closer tracking to a threshold group: large business-group affiliates with combined assets over 5 trillion won

Common failure modes

  • Disclosure alone has not closed the gap — the OECD still ranks Korea's economy-wide gap as the widest in the bloc
  • A 2025 bill to expand disclosure requirements further was introduced partly because the existing mechanism was judged insufficient on its own

Where it fits

Governance type
national government regulation
Scale
national, applying to listed and large-affiliate companies

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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