Women must face several hurdles to be strong in the workplace. We can see this from the dual role that women have to take on to tackle violence and harassment in the workplace.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Manpower Minister Ida Fauziyah, at an online event here, Wednesday, drew attention to several challenges that women faced in the working world, including being stereotyped and facing sexism, which became the root of gender-based discrimination.

At a discussion on gender shaming or sexism in the working world held by PLN Peduli, the minister noted that women's participation in the workplace had increased significantly.

However, this does not automatically result in gender equality in the workplace.

"Women must face several hurdles to be strong in the workplace. We can see this from the dual role that women have to take on to tackle violence and harassment in the workplace," she noted.

Related news: Prevent workplace discrimination against female workforce: Minister

One of the factors that hinder gender equality is the presence of gender shaming or stereotype and sexism that were causal to gender-based discrimination against women.

This behavior often belittles women in the workplace. There is still also a perception that women workers have lower productivity as compared to their male counterparts.

"This is certainly counterproductive for our collective goal to continue to support women's empowerment in the workplace in order to have a positive impact on the economy at the individual to national level," Fauziyah affirmed.

To this end, the government, through its Ministry of Manpower, upholds its commitment to supporting women's empowerment in the workplace, such as by protecting and providing them with a sense of security in fulfilling their rights.

Several of these rights are protective in nature, such as those related to reproduction, with menstrual, maternity, and miscarriage leaves.

In addition, the corrective policies comprise a ban on terminating work relations for women due to marriage, pregnancy, or labor.

In addition, the government rolled out non-discriminative policies to protect women workers from discriminatory practices and gender injustice in the workplace, Fauziyah remarked.

Related news: Manpower minister presses for equal employment opportunities for women

Translator: Prisca Triferna V, Fadhli Ruhm
Editor: Suharto
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