Last November, the APEC CEO Summit took place in San Francisco, California, USA. Over 1,200 business leaders and scholars from the APEC region attended, with major global corporations, including OpenAI, Salesforce, Microsoft, and Apple from the United States, announcing investments totaling $50 billion in APEC economies. Aligning with APEC’s focus on “inclusion and interconnectedness,” Coupang announced a commitment of over $40 million in 2024 towards recruiting, employing, and promoting women in software engineering, data science, and logistics across the Asia region.
Marisa Lee, Chair of Coupang’s global women initiatives and head of international PR (right) together with Pamela Phan, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Asia at U.S. Department of Commerce (left), pledge to promote women employment and inclusion in APAC
Coupang plans to invest more than $130 million over the next three years to attract highly qualified and talented women to the company. Marisa Lee, chair of Coupang’s global women initiatives and head of international PR, stated, “Our mission is to transform the retail experience in the markets we serve so that people will ask, ‘How did I ever live without Coupang?’ To achieve this, we are dedicated to addressing the traditional underrepresentation of women in the technical and commercial logistics fields that underpin modern commerce, not only as a service provider but also as an employer.”
With the opening of the second fulfillment center in Taiwan last year and a third one planned for this year, Coupang will collaborate with more female leaders in Taiwan to unleash the full potential of the local digital ecosystem. In Taiwan, over 50 percent of Coupang’s knowledge workers are women, and nearly 50 percent of its managers are women. Coupang’s expansion plans for AI-powered fulfillment centers in Taiwan is creating new opportunities for women. Each of Coupang’s fulfillment centers can employ up to 1,800 people, contributing to the creation of thousands of new local job opportunities over the next few years while positioning Coupang as the top U.S. job creator in Taiwan.
Importantly, Coupang encourages and supports working mothers by fostering an environment of unwavering support and care to empower the entire workforce. In Taiwan, Coupang has introduced industry-leading in-house programs for all employees, including parents. These programs encompass flexible working environments and schedules, childcare benefits, contracts with high-quality preschools, and discounts for parent employees. At the Taipei office and fulfillment center in Taoyuan, Coupang offers various initiatives to redefine and advance the overall concept of maternity care and family work-life balance. These include dedicated maternity parking for pregnant employees, baby gifts, comfortable and private nursing spaces, postnatal counseling for new mothers, and parenting workshops for first-time parents.
These initiatives enable employees to contribute to Coupang’s mission while still valuing their family and personal lives in the way that works best for them. Coupang remains committed to supporting more women entering the technology and logistics fields and advancing their careers at Coupang.
