Hyundai Breaks Barriers with First Ever Female Factory Workers in South Korea

Hyundai Motor Group initiates a historical shift in South Korea's auto industry by hiring female workers for its manufacturing plants for the first time. Amid an unprecedented surge of job applicants, the company's open recruitment policy becomes a symbol of advancing gender equality in the sector.

Hyundai Motor was revealed to have employed female employees for its production facilities in South Korea. This is the first time the company included women in its plants since its founding.

According to The Korea Herald, among the 200 factory workers that the company hired this month, six of them are women, and this was also confirmed by the Korea Metal Workers' Union this week. Then again, Hyundai Motor did not say the exact gender ratio of its total workforce.

At this time, the company is said to employ more or less 28,000 workers, and they are working in the factories. It was estimated that there could be about 500 women in the facilities but not in the main production plants.

Moreover, most of these female staff were employed at Hyundai facilities as subcontracted workers. Some of them become regular workers later on, especially after the national court ruled that they could become regulars too. At any rate, the company just marked the first time it has hired female factory staff via open recruitment.

"This new recruitment marks the first job opening that opened doors for women in the industry since the founding of the company," a member of the labor union's women's committee said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Korea Joongang Daily reported that about 180,000 individuals have applied for a job through Hyundai Motor's open recruitment, and the surge of applicants even caused the firm's website to crash. The company already hired hundreds, and another 200 recruits are expected to be hired later this year.

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