Yogyakarta, 17 May 2022. The Group of Twenty (G20) EMPOWER of the Indonesian Presidency held the second Plenary Meeting in Yogyakarta, on 17-19 May 2022. At this meeting, efforts were made to accelerate efforts to encourage the contribution of women's roles to drive economic growth, including through Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). be one of the main focuses. This refers to the World Economic Forum's projection that it will take another 135 years to close gender inequality if countries in the world do not make changes to the position of women in economic development.
More than 100 participants attended this meeting, including from the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Turkey, Indonesia, South Korea, Japan, China, Germany, England, India, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Italy. , Indonesia, France, Russia, plus the European Union. Four ministers were present as speakers, namely the Minister of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection (PPPA), Bintang Puspayogya, Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs, Teten Masduki, Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno, and Minister of State-Owned Enterprises, Erick Tohir. Also present was the Governor of the Special Region of Yogyakarta, Sri Sultan Hamengkubowono X.
Chair of G20 EMPOWER who is also Director & Chief Strategic Transformation & IT Officer of XL Axiata, Yessie D. Yosetya said that the focus of this meeting was in line with the big theme of the G20 Presidency of Indonesia 2022 "Recover Together, Recover Stronger" and the second main theme of G20 Empower 2022, namely Encouraging The role of women-owned SMEs as an economic driver.
"The main agenda of the second G20 EMPOWER meeting will be the importance of women in MSMEs as economic growth drivers. To be able to address all of the problems that exist, the government and private businesses must continue to fight for the implementation of laws and practices that promote women-owned MSMEs," said Yessie.
Present at this meeting were representatives from a number of national and international organizations that had more attention on the development of MSMEs, one of which was Céline Kauffmann as Head of Entrepreneurship, SMEs & Tourism Division OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) in the OECD Center for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities. Céline Kauffmann will raise several issues, including the current landscape of women SMEs which consists of trends and developments that can be found in various countries today, as well as the challenges faced by women SMEs in all G20 countries.
According to the Co-Chair of G20 EMPOWER, who is also COO, one of the owners of PT. Infinite Berkah Energi & WKU for Research, Development and Employment IWAPI, Rina Prihatiningsih, the results of the second G20 EMPOWER meeting along with the results from the first and third meetings will be part of the communique for the G20 EMPOWER Indonesian Presidency. The expected outcomes of the meeting in Yogyakarta include, firstly, a draft recommendation of actions that must be taken by the private sector to support the growth of women's MSMEs. Second, the design of support requested from the government or other stakeholders to accelerate the growth of women's MSMEs.
In addition, the G20 EMPOWER meeting this time is expected to provide added value beyond the various recommendations given. First, it opens the insight of various groups, especially the government and the private sector, about the importance of the role and leadership of women in small and medium enterprises. Second, identify the support needed from the government to realize the commitments and action plans from the private sector. Third, the need to conduct ideation with Advocate G20 EMPOWER regarding forms and action plans that can be carried out by the private sector regarding the growth of MSMEs led by women.
A meeting to examine rebuilding post-pandemic women's productivity was also held as part of the G20 EMPOWER series of plenary meetings. The discussion will revolve around why the government needs to increase post-pandemic women's productivity, as well as how the private sector can boost women's productivity post-pandemic. Appearing as speakers include representatives from the governments of Italy, South Korea, and Canada. In addition, W20 Co-Chair Dian Siswarini will also appear to share experiences, as well as speakers from Singapore and Argentina.
Around 30 Indonesian CEOs were invited
At this meeting in Yogyakarta, the Minister of PPPA is scheduled to hold an interactive dialogue with the G20 EMPOWER Advocates. In addition, there was also an introduction to the roles and activities of the G20 EMPOWER and the sharing of experiences from representatives of the G20 EMPOWER delegates/advocates. These advocates are women leaders who act as decision makers in a company or institution that are committed to achieving EMPOWER's G20 vision and mission in gender equality and empowering women within the company and their environment.
In this meeting, there were around 30 new advocates for signing the G20 EMPOWER pledge consisting of private companies and state-owned enterprises who are committed to G20 EMPOWER through the involvement of best practice Indonesian women leaders in their respective companies.
G20 EMPOWER is one of the initiatives within the G20 presidency that brings together an alliance of private sector and government leaders to jointly advocate and support the advancement of women in leadership positions in the private and public sectors. The Ministry of PPPA together with XL Axiata and IWAPI are the focal points in promoting the importance of women's leadership in the business world through the G20 EMPOWER. Through this alliance, Indonesia wants to promote good practices from companies and the government in promoting women's leadership. Indonesia also has advocates from the private sector involved in promoting gender-based leadership roles in companies.
Some of the good practices that have been encouraged by Advocate G20 EMPOWER Indonesia through the companies they run, include developing gender responsive reporting within the company to identify the number of women's representation in leadership, company managerial positions to the recruitment process; create an employment assistant program to provide psychological support to employees, including those who experience violence and harassment; provide adequate facilities for women; provide training and mentoring programs as well as training to improve the skills of female employees; and Develop regulations and other related company policies to encourage the representation and role of women in companies.