"Women must increase their knowledge and expertise in terms of digitalization. In the global era such as now, digital literacy is not a choice. It is a must," Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Bintang Puspayoga stated during an event here on Tuesday.
The event was titled "Empowered Indonesian Women in Cyberspace."
Puspayoga said that one of the factors that contribute to Indonesia's development in the future is gaining mastery over science, tech, engineering, and mathematics for the current and future generations.
"Mastering science, tech, engineering, and mathematics becomes a requirement to create innovations in many aspects of life," she remarked.
Those become indispensable for development, considering automation and digitalization had grown increasingly significant and impactful in women's lives, she pointed out.
Puspayoga drew attention to the huge number of women, who pursued tertiary education in those scientific disciplines. Moreover, over 80 percent of those taking up biology and pharmacy majors are women, she noted.
"Regrettably, the participation rate drops drastically once in (they work)," she pointed out.
Citing data from the relevant industry, the minister said only two of 10 women chose to pursue a professional career, and only three of 10 women ended up being researchers.
"Hence, efforts to improve women's participation and leadership, particularly in cybersecurity, is no longer a mere economic and employment issue but also a gender issue," Puspayoga noted.
She cited research from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which listed some of the factors to the low rate of women's participation in scientific fields.
It said that 61 percent of women were limited by thoughts of gender stereotypes when they were seeking employment, she pointed out.
Moreover, the data indicated that 50 percent of women have low interest to work in scientific fields owing to the male predominance in those areas, she concluded.
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Translator: Anita Permata Dewi, Mecca Yumna
Editor: Sri Haryati
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