Jakarta, March 14th 2021. PT XL Axiata Tbk (XL Axiata) continues to encourage the implementation of gender equality in various fields, including in the national private industry. This attitude will continue to be improved along with the activity of XL Axiata in the international forum of the G20 Empowerment and Progression of Women's Economic Representation (Empower). In fact, at the first plenary meeting in measuring the Improvement of the G20 Empower, the Director & Chief Information Digital Officer of XL Axiata, Yessie D. Yosetya has been appointed as the focal point representing the private sector, with the Deputy Assistant for the Participation in Professional Institutions and the Business World of Ministry of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection, Eko Novi Ariyanti, and Rina Zoet from IWAPI.
Director & Chief Information Digital Officer of XL Axiata Yessie D. Yosetya said, "XL Axiata will continue to initiate program innovations that can encourage the implementation of values and principles of gender equality, including in terms of increasing the proportion of women in strategic positions within the company, and can be a role model for companies that are able to apply the values and principles of gender equality to other companies. We will invite other companies to provide opportunities for women to become leaders in their companies. "
According to Yessie, the G20 Empower forum brings together private sector leaders and government partners to jointly advocate for and enforce women's advancement into leadership positions in the business sector around the world. On 23 February 2021, the G20 Empower held the first online meeting attended by representatives from 20 countries, with the agenda of measuring the increase in the G20 Empower forum. All member countries are divided into 6 working groups to develop the results of the G20 EMPOWER namely Commitments and Recommendations.
In this agenda, Yessie was the speaker for Working Group 5 - Recommendations, along with members of other countries such as the Republic of Korea, Rwanda, UAE, USA, Indonesia, India, Mexico, Singapore, the United Kingdom. The responsibility of each working group is to discuss and propose the main components that each should include in the commitments or recommendations related to the first plenary topic of the G20 EMPOWER which is measuring for improvement.
Focus of G20 Empower for 2021 focuses on three most relevant areas that require attention. First, KPI and measurement for the private sectors in setting goals and responsibilities across their organizations for the advancement of women in leadership roles. Second, recruitment and promotion practices that can overcome systemic barriers for women's advancement. Third, learning, training and development to address gaps and encourage the competencies that women need to advance.
The G20 Empower is an alliance that brings together private sector leaders and government partners to jointly advocate for and enforce women's advancement into leadership positions in the private sector. Under the leadership of Italy, the G20 Empower is currently driving the advancement of economic empowerment and representation of women at senior levels of business around the world. Therefore, an alliance was made with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the International Labor Organization (ILO).
The G20 EMPOWER is working with the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the OECD to outline the state of women's economic empowerment and representation at the senior business level. This report highlights that there is a lot of work to be done globally. First, the average share of women in managerial positions has fluctuated by around 31 percent since 2010, increasing by 3.3% in ten years to a highest value of 32.4 percent in 2019. Second, the average percentage of women in G20 countries on corporate boards is 18% in 2019, up from 15% in 2016. Third, in 2019, the average gender employment gap for ages 15+ in G20 countries was 26 percentage points. Whereas in Indonesia, according to data from the 2019 Central Bureau of Statistics, from 2014 to 2018, the percentage of women as managers, professionals, administrators, technicians showed an increase, namely in 2014 it was 45.61% and in 2018 it again increased to be as big as 47.02%, previously in 2017 it decreased compared to 2016.
The report detail can be seen here:
ILO: https://valored.it/ilo-data-report-for-empower/
OECD: https://valored.it/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/OECD-G20-EMPOWER-Women-Leadership.pdf