More than seven out of 10 major South Korean firms have no female executives, data showed Wednesday, indicating that women here face a glass ceiling in the C-suite.

As of the end of March, 73.9 percent of the 284 affiliates under the country's top 30 business groups said they have no female workers at the executive level, according to the data compiled by market tracker CEO Score.

Likewise, the proportion of high-level corporate officials among each of the sexes also showed a stark contrast.

Only one of 1,300 female workers was an executive officer at the cited firms, compared to the 1-in-74 ratio tallied for male workers, the data showed.

By company, the number of female executives at Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co. and S-Oil Corp. came to none, while that of POSCO affiliates stood at 7.7 percent, according to the data.

On the higher end of the spectrum, Samsung Group had the largest number of affiliates with female executives at 48 percent, followed by LG Group and Mirae Asset Financial Group with 43.8 percent and 40 percent, respectively, according to the data. (Yonhap)