Realizing Gender Equality, "G20 Empower" Presents Women Leaders

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection said the 2nd G20 Empower Plenary Meeting scheduled a meeting of women leaders in the private and public sectors to share experiences in realizing gender equality in the work environment.

"G20 Empower is an important vehicle for advocates to share experiences and good practices," said the Assistant Deputy for Increased Participation of Professional Institutions and the Business World at the PPPA Ministry Eko Novi Ariyanti in a press release in Jakarta, Tuesday evening, May 17.

G20 Empower is one of the working groups in the G20 Indonesia Presidency which aims to accelerate the leadership and empowerment of women in the private sector.

Eko Novi added that the women leaders are the main figures who can promote the actions that have been carried out by them.

The Indonesian government continues to garner support from other women leaders to raise awareness of the importance of gender equality in the private and public sectors.

"The Indonesian government since 2020 has been synergizing with 26 advocates, namely CEOs or senior leaders at the company level or association leaders who have a policy-making role that can promote gender equality in their work environment. In 2022, the government is gathering support from 34 new advocates for promote the importance of gender equality in the private and public sectors," she said.

Chair G20 Empower who is also Director & Chief Strategic Transformation & IT Officer XL Axiata Yessie D. Yosetya said that the focus of the discussion in this meeting was to encourage the role of women MSME actors as drivers of economic growth.

"The main agenda of the second G20 Empower meeting is to discuss the urgency of the role of women in MSMEs as drivers of economic growth. The government and private businesses need to encourage further implementation of policies and practices as support for women-owned MSMEs to be able to face all the challenges that exist," said Yessie.

G20 Empower held the 2nd Plenary Meeting in Yogyakarta on 17-19 May 2022 with the main agenda discussing the urgency of the role of women in MSMEs as drivers of economic growth.

In addition, several crucial issues that will be discussed include limited access to financial facilities for female MSME actors, low digital literacy and connectivity to the internet and female MSMEs who are vulnerable to the effects of pandemics and crises.