Women in Strategic Ranks, GOTO Inspires Companies with Gender Equality Principles

CORPORATE STRATEGIC - JAKARTA. The new composition of PT GoTo Gojek Tokopedia Tbk (GOTO) management reflects support for gender equality. This is considered important amid the lack of women's participation at the policy-making level in a company in Indonesia.

GOTO's Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders (EGMS) on Thursday (02/03/2023) decided to appoint two women, namely Marjorie Lao as Independent Commissioner and Nila Marita as Director. This coincides with International Women's Month, which is celebrated every March.

In addition, GOTO also placed two women as business unit presidents, namely Catherine Hindra Sutjahyo in the on-demand business line and Melissa Siska Juminto in the e-Commerce business line.

“I think this is a good progress for gender equality,” said the Deputy Chairperson of the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo), Shinta Widjaja Kamdani, on Friday (03/03/2023).

Shinta hopes that GOTO’s initiative to bring up female talents in the company’s strategic ranks can be a role model and inspire many other large companies in Indonesia.

“Looking at the results of a survey conducted by Catalyst, globally women’s representation is only 26% at the top management level. Whereas gender equality can drive better performance, as well as greater productivity and profitability,” said Shinta.

In fact, she continued, companies with more gender-diverse teams are proven to make better business decisions.

“This is proven through data where as many as 353 Fortune 500 companies with greater representation of women in top-level executives, they have a 35% higher ROE (return on equity), and TSR (total shareholder return) 34% higher than male-dominated companies,”she explained again.

The Global Gender Gap Index 2020 report released by the World Economic Forum (WEF) noted that gender equality is still a problem in Indonesia. Ranked 85th out of 153 countries with a score of 0.70. This figure has not changed since 2018.

The Financial Services Authority (OJK) also highlights the same thing. Data released in 2021 noted that the contribution of women in the Board of Commissioners and Board of Directors of Issuers and Public Companies (EPP) in Indonesia is still less than 50%. To be precise, 38% of EPPs had a female Board of Commissioners in 2020 and 46% of EPPs had a female Board of Directors in the same year.

As known, GoTo's decision to establish a new management composition that is authorized through the Company's EGMS is an important step to strengthen GoTo's commitment to good corporate governance (GCG) and its focus on the Company's operating efficiency.

The new members of the Board of Commissioners and the Board of Directors are expected to provide a more diverse outlook, strong leadership and guidance, in driving the Company's goal of accelerating its move towards profitability.

“Today’s EGMS (02/03/2023) provides an important boost in improving our GCG as a public company. Our shareholders have approved changes to our Board of Commissioners and Board of Directors that will strengthen the Company’s supervisory and management functions as we enter a new chapter in our journey. These changes were made in conjunction with an organizational restructuring within the Company that also included the appointment of a business unit president,” said Andre Soelistyo, President Director of GoTo, in an official statemen