By Sarah Buckley BBC News Online

The appointment of South Korea's first female prime minister has come as a shock to many people in what is still an exceptionally male-dominated society.

Women in South Korea are subordinate to men in the workplace as well as the home. They are even forbidden from smoking in the street.

In reality we cannot expect anything (to change for women) soon

Lee Jae-kyung, professor of women's studies

Although the prime minister is not elected and lacks substantive power, the move will be seen as a boost for women's standing in the country.

Lee Jae-kyung, associate professor of women's studies at Ewha Women's University where new Prime Minister Chang Sang is president, described the appointment as "revolutionary".

"I think this event will empower our young students," she told BBC News Online.

But the fact that she is shocked is instructive - the promotion of Chang Sang is an anomaly rather than a natural culmination of women's growing power in South Korea.

The professor added that, although Chang Sang's promotion is symbolically important, "in reality we cannot expect anything (to change for women) soon".

Deep-rooted inequality

South Korea has a poor record of promoting women's rights.

Professor Lee pointed out that, according to one measurement of gender equality - the UN's Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) - South Korea last year ranked at 61 out of 64 countries surveyed, compared with Japan at 31.

Young Sook-park of the Korean Foundation for Women, is equally delighted but similarly pragmatic.

"We are very surprised and as a women's organisation we are so pleased," she said.

But she added: "At the moment we cannot say" that the role of women is changing in South Korea.

She said the fact that a gender equality ministry had only been established last year demonstrated South Korea's slowness to change.

Economic factors

Although laws have started to be established which better favour women, practice has not yet caught up.

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Ms Young said women lacked equal status in all areas of life, but particularly in the political arena.

So it is instructive that Chang Sang is a university administrator rather than a career politician.

There are only two female ministers in the cabinet, and one is the minister for gender equality.

The reason for this, she said, was that running for election is very costly in South Korea and few women can afford it.

Most working women are employed in the lower-earning service industries.

The law also discriminates against women, making them reliant on their husbands. For example, when married couples buy property, it is always in the husband's name.

The shadow of Confucius

South Korea's gender inequality has an historical background. Confucianism, still a grounding philosophy in South Korea, prescribes an unequal relationship between man and wife.

South Korea may be reeling from the appointment of a female prime minister, but the news will not move many of its neighbours.

In the Asia-Pacific region, Indonesia, the Philippines and New Zealand are all currently ruled by women.