Print this page
Thursday, 08 April 2021 20:02

Women Lead Forum 2021 Highlights Gender Equality in Workplace

Written by 
Rate this item
(0 votes)

WhatsApp_Image_2021-04-08_at_4.23.19_PM.jpeg

 

Jakarta. Magdalene.co, an online magazine that focuses on women's issues, collaborates with the Indonesia Business Coalition for Women Empowerment (IBCWE) to hold the Women Lead Forum 2021, an event to support working women and promote gender equality in the workplace, on April 7 and 8 2021.

Supported by Investing in Women, an initiative of the Australian Government, this online event invites a wide range of competent resource persons from government, private sector, and international organizations.

The 2021 Women Lead Forum is the top event in the Magdalene series of programs to support women's leadership and careers.

Since September 2020, Magdalene has published various articles related to the lives of working women and efforts to support women's leadership through the womenlead.magdalene.co microsite, the How Women Lead and FTW Media podcast series, various content on social media, and the #KantorDukungPerempuan video contest on Instagram.

The Women Lead Forum 2021 highlights various problems faced by women in the workplace as well as challenges in achieving leadership positions.

The Minister of Manpower of the Republic of Indonesia Ida Fauziyah in her keynote speech explained the various conditions of gender inequality that are still found among Indonesian workers, ranging from imbalances in labor force participation rates (TPAK), wage gaps, to gender-based discriminatory treatment.

Ida also highlighted how the COVID-19 pandemic carries an additional burden on its own for female workers.

"For women, the pandemic presents additional burdens, ranging from the loss of work or income, increasing the burden of household management due to work from home, school from home, so that domestic violence by partners increases as found in a global study," she said.

“The obstacles [faced by women workers] are caused by the double burden, sexism, and stereotypes in society, gender-based discrimination, to sexual harassment. These obstacles not only affect them individually and their families, but also the country's economic potential and the Indonesian Gender Equality Index in the world rankings,” Ida said.

Responding to the various obstacles faced by women workers, Ida said that the Ministry of Manpower is committed to continuing to carry out a national movement of non-discrimination in the workplace.

Deputy Head of Mission of the Australian Embassy, ​​H. E. Allaster Cox, in his opening speech for the Women Lead Forum 2021, stated that women leaders are one of the main drivers of gender equality and have a significant influence on a country's economy recovery efforts.

"To that end, Australia is proud to join hands with Indonesia on the journey of strengthening women's representation in leadership and achieving greater gender equality in the workplace," Cox said.

Chief Editor of Magdalene, Devi Asmarani said the obstacles faced by women workers have limited their opportunities to maximize their potential. Even though there are policies that support female workers, in reality, the implementation of these policies has not been optimal, she said.

“The company has a big role to play in changing this situation. Therefore, we aim at the 2021 Women Lead Forum to unite policymakers in government, legislative institutions, and companies to share their knowledge and experiences, so that there will be lessons learned and create strong synergies to achieve gender equality in the workplace," Devi said.

In the 2021 Women Lead Forum, there were four-panel discussions that discussed four topics: "Between Domestic Responsibilities and Job Opportunities"; "The Role of Companies in Supporting Gender Equality in the Workplace"; "Normalization of Gender Equality through the Media"; and “Supporting Women's Leadership: Policy and Changing Norms”.

The two-day event was also filled with inspirational conversations with the young entrepreneurial woman Ida Swasti, as well as stand-up comedy performances by Sakdiyah Ma'ruf and Ligwina Hananto. (VOI)

Read 339 times
Nur Yasmin

Latest from Nur Yasmin