Gender inequality and its impact on women’s underdevelopment are still significant issues, according to Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Bintang Puspayoga. During a discussion to commemorate Kartini Day in Jakarta, Puspayoga highlighted the significant gap in women’s participation in the economic sector, ranging from workforce participation to wage equality and income rates. Despite the fact that over 50% of micro, small, and medium enterprise owners are women and 55% of Indonesian tourism actors are women, there is still gender inequality that underlies women’s underdevelopment.
The ministry has undertaken several efforts, such as enhancing mothers’ and families’ roles in parenting, improving women’s entrepreneurship with a gender perspective, and preventing child marriage, to bridge this gap. Additionally, they conducted village women leadership training to create women and child-friendly villages, allowing women to rise up from various forms of inequality and oppression. By improving the role of women in the family’s economy and their involvement in domestic decision-making processes, including sharing responsibility for educating and taking care of their children with their husbands, the ministry hopes to empower women and reduce gender inequality.
