Jakarta, June 26th 2020. PT XL Axiata participated in the G20 Empowerment and Progression of Women’s Economic Representation (EMPOWER) forum. By sharing experiences in managing special competency improvement programs for Indonesian women through Sisternet. In addition, XL Axiata also showed support for gender equality in human resource management, including within the company's leadership structure. XL Axiata ‘s Director/Chief Information & Digital Officer, Yessie D. Yosetya attended the EMPOWER meeting which was held by teleconference on Wednesday (24/6).
Direktur/Chief Information & Digital Officer XL Axiata, Yessie D. Yosetya said, “Up to today, XL Axiata has implemented gender equality in all positions, equal treatment and access for all female and male employees in line with the company's opportunities and resources. We provide equal opportunities for promotions, salary increase, and inclusion in the decision making process. In addition, the benefits are equal for various non-formal education according to the interests of employees. Also, in terms of self-development such as the relevant training and assignments. One proof of this equality is evident in the fact that 28% of women hold leadership positions at XL Axiata.”
Yessie added to her statement that XL Axiata also recruited employees based on requirements to meet the needs of the company and its’ stakeholders, which include; skills and soft skills, without questioning gender issues, nor was there any special treatment related to gender. Also, within the company’s environment, all employees, between men and women have the same freedom of speech and opinion. Overall, the XL Axiata management support in gender equality is visible within the company's leadership structure, where two of the five director positions are held by women, namely President Director & CEO of XL Axiata, Dian Siswarini, along with the position of Director/Chief Information & Digital Officer held by Yessie, herself.
In addition to being related to the managerial system and corporate leadership, the implementation of gender equality within XL Axiata in evident in the support of programs to help increase of competency and contribution of women in the digital age. The system is one of the programs that XL Axiata recommends in this EMPOWER forum in terms of empowering women to become more independent and empowered. Over the past 4 years, through the Sisternet program, XL Axiata has continued to strive in improving the opportunities, competency and contribution of Indonesian women in facing various challenges, especially as leaders in the sector of digital economy.
Assistant Deputy of Gender Equality in the Economy for the Ministry of Women's Empowerment and Children Protection, Muhammad Ihsan said, "All of us from the PPPA Ministry greatly appreciate the positive professional practices conveyed by Ms. Yessie, the representative from XL Axiata, along with Mrs. Rina, representative from the Indonesian Women Entrepreneurs Association. (IWAPI) in the Second Virtual Meeting of EMPOWER. Going forward, we hope that XL Axiata and IWAPI can initiate program innovations that can encourage the application of values and principles of gender equality, including in terms of increasing the proportion of women in strategic positions within the company, in which can become role models for companies to apply these same values and principles of gender equality."
This year, Sisternet will support the work program of the Ministry of Women Empowerment and Children Protection (PPPA). The first step was to conduct an online SME incubation program for women called Sispreneur with a target of 200 women participants in rural areas. Secondly, providing a panic button feature that will prevent women and child abuse through the Sisternet application. Not long ago, Sisternet launched a digital application to make these relevant features more accessible to the wider community, especially women. Through this application, the public can get a variety of learning materials to improve and increase women's competence and contribution in the digital era.
"This gives great pride for XL Axiata, as part of the Indonesian society to be able to share our experiences and examples of programs that aim to improve and empower women within and through this international forum. This is an effort to empower women and girls in G20 and non-G20 countries to advance in terms careers and contributions. Thank you to the PPPA Ministry for providing this valuable opportunity." Yessie added to her statement.
XL Axiata's participation in the G20 EMPOWER forum is an extension to the invitation of the Ministry of Women Empowerment & Children Protection. The Ministry addressed that XL Axiata is a private company that have clearly supported and continue to implement gender equality for women in managerial and leadership positions. In addition, XL Axiata also runs a number of programs to increase the expertise and special skills of women through Sisternet. Also participating in this international forum led by the Saudi Arabian delegation were representatives from IWAPI, and the Ministry of PPPA.
EMPOWER was launched in 2019 with the Osaka G20 Summit to advocate for the advancement of women in private sectors. This year, EMPOWER will develop an action plan to identify key focus areas and activate its membership, while also conducting global research and harnessing relevant data and policy suggestions. Under Saudi leadership, EMPOWER seeks to overcome the ongoing social and economic inequality between men and women to empower people in accordance with the vision "Awareness of Equal Opportunities for All in the 21st Century".
The alliance members (allies) met for the first time, via teleconference on Wednesday (6/24) in which was attended by representatives of 19 countries and led by Saudi Arabia along with Co-Chairs from Japan, Italy and Canada. Which also included countries that are members of the G20 allegiance, namely, Australia, The European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Russia, United Kingdom, United States, and guest country members; Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates