"Fulfilling gender equality must be used as a vital investment. Moreover, women's equality and empowerment are the main issues raised by Women 20 during Indonesia's G20 Presidency," executive director of Plan Indonesia, Dini Widiastuti, said in a written statement received here on Monday.
According to Plan International's 2021 Girls Leadership Index Report, Indonesia ranked 10th out of 19 Asian countries in the overall index, she noted.
In law and policy aspects, which covered equal pay, child marriage, domestic violence, and sexual harassment, Indonesia ranked 14th, she said. Meanwhile, in terms of women's voice and political representation, Indonesia ranked 12th, she added.
Widiastuti said that girls are still facing various challenges, such as gender stereotypes and bias in various aspects, which are hindering them from making decisions for their lives, especially for leadership roles.
The urgency of promoting gender equality is even greater than before given the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the state of inequality experienced by women, including in Indonesia, she added.
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Data from Halting Lives 2: In Their Own Voice: Girls and Young Women on the Impact of COVID-19 report by Plan International, which covered 7 thousand girls and young women in 14 countries, has revealed that 31 percent of the respondents' families lost their jobs and had no income to support the fulfillment of girls' rights, she noted.
Therefore, to mark International Women's Day 2022, Plan Indonesia has called on all stakeholders, both the government and the private sector, to act together and fight gender inequality, she said.
"We must also ensure that women's rights are fulfilled from the age of childhood, and they are given a platform to increase their agency," she added.
Meanwhile, deputy for human resources, technology, and information at the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry, Tedi Bharata, said that gender equality and diversity provide added value to organizational performance, including SOEs.
Therefore, the ministry is continuously striving to expedite women’s representation, such as on boards of commissioners and boards of directors, with a target of 15 percent representation by 2021 and 25 percent by 2023, he informed.
"To (fulfill) this ambition, investment in women, so that they can lead, must be done from a young age," Bharata said.
Another measure taken by the ministry to put emphasis on women's role in state-owned enterprises has been the #GirlsTakeover 2021 initiative, launched in collaboration with Plan Indonesia, Srikandi BUMN, and the Indonesian Human Capital Forum (FHCI), he added. The program will end in 2026, he said.
"We are committed to increasing public awareness at the national scope about gender equality, while at the same time generating new young talents, including young staff of state-owned enterprises who uphold gender equality values and support women's leadership at work," he remarked.
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Translator: Martha H S, Mecca Yumna
Editor: Suharto
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