Citi Calls For Gender Equality To Realize Social Inclusion

JAKARTA - Citi Indonesia has reaffirmed its commitment to the values of diversity and inclusion. Recently, Citi Indonesia and BeritaSatu Media Holdings held a virtual discussion "Accelerating Social Inclusion through Women Empowerment" in commemoration of World Women's Day which falls on every 8 March.

According to Citi Indonesia CEO Batara Sianturi, inclusion is something that is very synonymous with Indonesia. Social inclusion is also the key in harnessing diversity to build a better Indonesia.

"Our job is to be able to achieve inclusion in the family, school, workplace, and community. One of the points of inclusivity in the workplace is the role of women and the application of the principle of gender equality, which will ultimately lead to the application of the concept of meritocracy," he said. Batara at the virtual discussion "Accelerating Social Inclusion through Women Empowerment", Wednesday 6 April.

World Bank data for 2021 shows that around 54% of women of productive age in Indonesia choose to work.

"Looking at the number of women's participation in the Indonesian economy, Citi believes in the importance of the role of women and gender equality in running the business. Citi strives consistently to continue to pay attention to these values, both internally in the work environment and externally to the public and clients," continued Batara.

He added that Citi Indonesia's commitment to gender equality is reflected in the composition of the company's employees. Until now, 56 percent of Citi Indonesia's employees are women spread across all levels and roles. Through CitiPeka (Citi Peduli dan Berkarya), the company also helps empower women in the community.

It is known that CitiPeka is an umbrella program for Citi Indonesia's community activities funded by the Citi Foundation. Since 2018, the CitiPeka program has helped around 25,000 beneficiaries and 50.65 percent of them are women.

"Therefore, I hope that all parties are able to continue to be involved in cultivating the importance of inclusiveness and gender equality to provide a supportive environment for the people of Indonesia," said Batara.

Furthermore, Co-Chairwoman of Citi Indonesia Women's Network (IWN) Maryam Umar said that Citi's leadership both globally and in Indonesia has reflected gender equality. Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser is the first female CEO for a major bank on Wall Street.

"Four of Citi Indonesia's seven board of directors are women. It is not uncommon to see female-dominated directors, especially in the financial industry. The results of Citi's focus on gender equality have been seen in leadership both at global and local levels," said Maryam.

Maryam added, Citi also runs mentorship and leadership development programs to support gender equality in the work environment.

Meanwhile, Leny N Rosalin as Deputy for Gender Equality at the Ministry of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection (PPPA) highlighted various data showing that there is still a high gender gap in Indonesia.

UNDPP data, for example, shows that Indonesia has a gender inequality index (GII) score of 0.480 in 2019. This GII score places Indonesia at 121 rank out of 189 countries. Indonesia's gender development index (GIP) in 2010-2021 also tends to be flat. Indonesia's GPI only rose slightly from 89.42 in 2010 to 91.27 in 2021.

"As a country with a large population, of course, it is very important for all of us to work together to realize gender equality. Gender equality will be realized and at the same time will answer the issue of inclusiveness," explained Leny.

"Through this virtual discussion, we hope that we can support gender equality. From there, we can also make corrections to the various index numbers," added Leny.

The virtual discussion "Accelerating Social Inclusion through Women Empowerment" also presented an inspiring woman in the health sector, namely Siti Nadia Tarmizi as Spokesperson for the COVID-19 Vaccination of the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes). In her presentation, Siti Nadia discussed how women play an important role during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Women during the pandemic have a very important role. Women ensure how family members stay at home, invite them to vaccinate to help the family economy. We also see how female health workers make sacrifices not to return home and provide health services," he explained. Siti Nadia.

"This pandemic has taught us many things and I believe it will produce great and strong women in dealing with the pandemic," she added.

Also attending the virtual discussion, Executive Director of the Indonesia Business Coalition for Women Empowerment (IBCWE) Maya Juwita and Co-Founder of the New Men's Alliance, Nur Hasyim.