Jakarta, 17 November 2021. The Ministry of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection of the Republic of Indonesia (Kemen PPPA), PT XL Axiata Tbk (XL Axiata), and the Indonesian Women Entrepreneurs Association (IWAPI), through the G20 Empower Indonesia alliance, continue to encourage women's leadership in the public and private sectors. They hope that there will be more opportunities for female employees to sit at the leadership level as long as they have adequate abilities and competencies. The call was raised in the 2nd webinar series with the theme "The Importance of Developing Women's Opportunities and Career Paths", Thursday (11/11).
Director & Chief Strategic Transformation Information Officer of XL Axiata, who is also Chair from Indonesia in G20 EMPOWER, Yessie D.Yosetya said, "Based on the Global Gender Gap Report 2021, currently global managerial positions are only filled by around 27% women. Therefore, it is important for the private and public sectors to strengthen the process of developing female talent pipeline and reduce potential barriers that may arise.”
According to Yessie, XL Axiata's management believes that diversity in talent is necessary. Equality is an absolute principle in the company environment, including in the matter of providing equal opportunities for all employees in developing career paths. Moreover, based on research, the presence of women in company leadership positions will increase company productivity and performance as well as increase loyalty to the company. Therefore, gender equality at XL Axiata becomes the company's policy and agenda.
XL Axiata management also initiated several programs to encourage female employees to build careers up to leadership positions. The recruitment process to special mentoring programs for female talents who have great potential to improve their careers continues to be maintained in balance. The results of the pro-gender equality policy at XL Axiata have produced positive results.
Currently, two women are occupying director positions, namely Dian Siswarini as President Director & CEO of XL Axiata and Yessie herself as Director & Chief Strategic Transformation Information Officer of XL Axiata. In addition, 30% of leadership positions are held by women.
Meanwhile, Ferry Ardiyanto, Assistant Deputy for Multilateral Economic Cooperation at the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs as Co-Sherpa G20 Indonesia, sees that more and more companies are aware of the priority of gender equality to encourage inclusiveness, while increasing productivity and profitability, as well as ensuring the sustainability of human resources, especially in managerial positions.
"One of the real benefits of gender equality that has been felt by many companies implementing it is the creation of quality human resources who are then able to optimize the performance of the company," added Ferry.
This webinar is a continuation of the first series held on September 30, 2021, and is part of a series of agendas welcoming the implementation of the “G20 Presidency of Indonesia 2022”, in which Indonesia will also hold the presidency position for the G20 Empower alliance.
Executive Director of the Indonesia Business Coalition for Women Empowerment (IBCWE) as well as G20 Empower Indonesia Advocates, Maya Juwita, revealed that since its establishment in December 2016, IBCWE has succeeded in developing membership from initially 8 to currently a total of 28 companies, the majority of which are large companies in Indonesia. Maya hopes that more companies will realize the importance of gender equality and women's empowerment in Indonesia.
One of the assessment focuses for companies that are members of IBCWE is on how the company applies gender equality to the training process and talent pipeline development in the work environment. This coalition is expected to reach more companies, not only the large-scale but also the lower-middle scale ones in terms of the number of employees so that it will be easier to apply the principle of gender equality.
Public Affairs Communications and Sustainability Director of Coca-Cola Europacific Partners Indonesia (CCEP) as well as G20 Empower Indonesia Advocates, Lucia Karina, revealed that as many as 29.6% of female workers have occupied several strategic positions at CCEP Indonesia. According to her, the leadership of women workers continues to be developed through a series of activities with the hope that at least 30% of women workers can fill strategic positions by 2025 and 40% by 2030.
“In addressing the issue of gender equality at CCEP Indonesia, the company has taken several approaches, including in terms of salaries and facilities, there is no gap between female workers and male workers. In addition, we also invite female workers to continue to be active in various programs, including opening as many opportunities as possible for women to build a project and letting them be free to express ideas. These female workers can lead a program that makes them proud, and ownership continues to increase," added Lucia.
Meanwhile, Director of Finance and Human Resources (IDX), Risa Effenneta Rustam, revealed that gender equality is one of the important targets in her institution. One of the initiatives undertaken is to increase the annual recruitment of women workers. In addition, there is also talent mapping to increase the occupancy of female workers in managerial positions.
Furthermore, there is also a Development Program for employees developed to be utilized by IDX employees, including by female workers. Equal opportunities and benefits between female and male workers are also continuously considered. The company also regularly monitors talent data on the exchange between women and men to ensure equality.
In the G20 Presidency of Indonesia next year, G20 Empower Indonesia, which is an alliance between the government and the private sector, will bring three main themes. First, increasing corporate accountability in achieving Key Performance Indicators for expanding the role of women. Second, encouraging the role of women-owned SMEs as an economic driver. Third, building and improving digital resilience and skills for women.
G20 Empower is the G20 Alliance for the Empowerment and Advancement of Women's Economic Representation which aims to accelerate the leadership and empowerment of women in the private sector. G20 Empower has an inclusive and action-oriented vision with its unique partnership model. G20 Empower is the only G20 entity that brings together more than 60 business leaders and government representatives to achieve a common goal, gender equality.