Co-pilot Sari Ardisa (right) speaks to captain Ida Fiqriah (left) before taking off aboard a GA164 aircraft from Jakarta to Padang, West Sumatra, on Friday (21/4). The GA164 flight was one of two special flights prepared by Garuda Indonesia to commemorate Kartini Day on April 21, 2017. All the crew members were women.
Indonesia has a potential driver of economic growth that yet to be put to optimal use, namely the participation of women in the working world.
In 2012, international consulting firm McKinsey Global Institute predicted that Indonesia would become the world’s seventh-biggest economy by 2030. Meanwhile, PricewaterhouseCoopers has predicted that Indonesia will be in fourth position by 2050.
This position can be achieved because of, among other factors, Indonesia entering a period of demographic dividend, which began in 2015 and is set to peak from 2020-2040. However, there is a condition in those predictions: Indonesia must be able to utilize half of its population, which are women.
Encouraging women to participate in the workforce is not a matter of gender equality. Women’s participation is very important to move the economy. McKinsey gave a concrete example. The participation of the female workforce in the United States between 1970 and 2010 increased by 25 percent.
The Indonesian government has carried out a number of efforts to improve gender equality and female participation, starting with the issuance of Presidential Instruction No. 9/2000 on Gender Mainstreaming, National Strategy Planning and Gender Responsive Budget to Presidential Regulation No. 59/2017 on the Implementation of Measures for the Sustainable Development Goals. Gender equality and women empowerment is the fifth goal within the SDG.
However, according to Central Statistics Agency data, the level of female participation in the workforce only stands at 5.5 on a scale of 1-10 over the last 20 years, while the participation of men stands at 8.8. Official unemployment among women is higher, and women are more active in the informal sector.
This situation has caused Indonesia, as explained by National Development Planning Minister/Bappenas head Bambang Brodjonegoro in a discussion held by Kompas Newspaper and the Indonesian Business Coalition for Women Empowerment, to lose its opportunity and potential for growth, because the female human resource, which is 50 percent of the population, is not playing an optimal role.
Many things need to be done to improve the quality of life of women, starting with the elimination of violence and child marriage to harmful stereotypes. Society, including the business world, must play a role in creating an environment that supports the participation of women.
