Huh Kum-joo, Kyobo Life Insurance's external affairs strategic consultant, speaks during a seminar hosted by the Delegation of European Union to the Republic of Korea at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul, Thursday. From left, Ambassador of Canada to the Republic of Korea Tamara Mawhinnery, International Women's Federation of Commerce and Industry President Sophie Kang, Kyobo Life Insurance's Huh Kum-joo and President of Korea Network of Women in Finance Kim Sang-kyung. Korea Times photo by Anna J. Park

Celebrating International Women's Day, which falls on March 8 annually, professional women who have made achievements in a variety of sectors shared their challenges and opportunities with audiences at a seminar, hoping to contribute to achieving gender equality in Korea.

Titled Women in the Workplace Today: Challenges and Opportunities — Road to Empowerment, the seminar on Thursday afternoon was organized and hosted by the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Korea

The program consisted of two sessions, inviting a total of six women panelists, ranging from successful business leaders in the financial sector to an immigrant-turned politician.

The first session was focused on discussing gender discrimination and challenges experienced by three women panelists — International Women's Federation of Commerce and Industry President Sophie Kang, Kyobo Life Insurance's External Affairs Strategic Consultant Huh Kum-joo and President of Korea Network of Women in Finance Kim Sang-kyung. The panelists shared their own stories of overcoming gender discrimination by breaking the glass ceiling at their mostly male-dominated jobs in the business sector.

"Gender diversity in the financial sector is gradually improving, as major institutional investors like the National Pension Fund and global asset managers scrutinize gender equality factors in their investment due to ESG principles. Furthermore, there are validated research results showing that gender diversity contributes to increasing corporate profitability and enhancing transparency of business aspects," Kim said, emphasizing that it is paramount to increase women's participation rates in economic activities to spur national growth.

The second session was on the challenges faced by immigrant women in the workplace, with Justice Party lawmaker Jasmine Lee joining the panelist group to share insights on overcoming their difficulties.

International Women's Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women, with a goal to activate campaigns for accelerating women's equality.