This is not just about providing equal opportunities, but also about increasing the economic and social role of women, reducing gender inequality, and ensuring equal access to resources and financing.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises is cooperating with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) for holding a trade and entrepreneurship e-course.

The effort is aimed at boosting the implementation of gender equality-based policies.

"This effort is also aimed at supporting the development and transformation of the entrepreneurship ecosystem for MSMEs (micro, small, and medium enterprises), especially for women-run businesses," the ministry's secretary, Arif Rahman Hakim, said here on Thursday.

He added that developing programs and activities based on gender equality is one of his ministry's priorities.

In the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2022, Indonesia ranked 92nd out of 146 countries in the Global Gender Gap Index with a score of 0.697.

Meanwhile, based on data from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Indonesia was categorized as a country with low women's empowerment in the Women's Empowerment Index (WEI) 2022.

According to Hakim, gender mainstreaming in government programs has a significant impact on achieving gender equality and sustainable development.

"This is not just about providing equal opportunities, but also about increasing the economic and social role of women, reducing gender inequality, and ensuring equal access to resources and financing," he explained.

To this end, he expressed the hope that the training would improve gender equality metrics, especially in the context of trade and entrepreneurship, particularly in the fields of cooperatives and MSMEs.

He said that his ministry has issued the Cooperatives and SMEs Minister's Decree Number 07 of 2020 on general guidelines for the implementation of gender-based programs in the fields of cooperatives and MSMEs.

"This can be used as a guideline in efforts to ensure gender mainstreaming, including of women and people with disabilities," he added.

On the same occasion, acting director of UNCTAD, Miho Shirotori, said that the collaboration between UNCTAD, ADB, and the Indonesian government is aimed at increasing the knowledge and understanding of policy makers regarding trade, entrepreneurship, and women's economic empowerment.

This, she explained, is aimed at reducing the gap between Indonesian women and men in accessing and obtaining development benefits, as well as increasing women's participation and control in the development process.


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Translator: Kuntum Khaira, Raka Adji
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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