Gender Equality and the Role of Corporate Culture in Realizing It

Gender equality and diversity in the workplace is an issue that continuously strived to achieve around the world, including in Indonesia. However, realizing this dream cannot just be done in one night. Many parties must play an active and involved role to create a healthy and friendly work culture for all parties in the company, including women. Gender equality itself is a right inherent in all individuals. In the work environment, gender equality refers to equal rights, responsibilities, opportunities, treatment, and assessment of men and women. According to research from Accenture, equality in the work environment can be a key driver of innovation. Meanwhile, the Grant Thornton International report entitled "Women in Business 2018" states that the company's business can improve significantly with the presence of at least one woman in a senior management position. This is reflected in the women leaders in Indonesia who have had a positive impact, both for the company and community. Some of them are Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani, Former Mayor of Surabaya who is currently Minister of Social Affairs Tri Rismaharini, Director of Financial & Business Support of PT. Make Nusantara Payments A. Pawitra Indriati, President Director of PT. BRI Danareksa Sekuritas Friderica Widyasari, Director of PT. Danareksa Investment Management Egi Indrawati, and Corporate Secretary of PT. Danareksa Putu Dewika Angganingrum. However, achieving gender equality in the company requires active roles from all parties. It can start from a strong leadership team that can set, share, and measure equality targets openly. Policies and practices that are family-friendly, supportive of all genders, and unbiased in attracting and retaining people. A work environment that trusts the employees, respects individuals, and offers the freedom to be creative and train and work flexibly.

Corporate Culture Role in Creating Gender Equality for Women in the World of Work

Company culture is a foundation that contains norms, values, how employees work, and habits that will ultimately lead to the quality of organizational performance. If companies want to build a corporate culture that can create better gender equality for women to be able to develop and be creative, companies need to have an inclusive and diversity strategy. The strategy must also be aligned with the company's overall business plan as it will form an important foundation for leaders to take action and drive progress. Creating a culture of equality in the world of work must start from the top, namely the leader of the company. Company leaders must be firm in setting targets for a culture of equality to be achieved. Then, companies need to create a healthy work environment that respects individuals and offers freedom of creation. After that, concrete action through several workplace policies, practices, and programs must be established and supported to increase progress for all. In Indonesia, the action to achieve gender equality in the world of work has started from the body of BUMN. BUMN Minister Erick Thohir has repeatedly emphasized his hope that BUMN can achieve the target of 15 percent female leadership in the Board of Directors (BOD) by 2021 and 20 percent in 2023. Telkomtelstra, as a subsidiary of Telkom, is taking steps to cooperate with Indonesia Business Coalition for Women Empowerment and conduct roadshows for recruiting female talents to major campuses in Indonesia. On the other hand, Jalin, which is part of a BUMN with shares owned by Danareksa and Telkom Group, tries to answer the challenge of creating a healthy corporate culture and supporting this equality through three main values, namely BISA, SINERGI, and TANGGUH. These three main values of Jalin refer to the values of Amanah, Kompeten, Harmonis, Loyal, Adaptif, and Kolaboratif (AKHLAK) BUMN to ensure harmony with BUMN culture. BISA represents a commitment to give more than the best by upholding integrity and professionalism at work. SINERGI represents the value of respecting others, creating and maintaining a harmonious work environment, and prioritizing teamwork. Meanwhile, TANGGUH represents passion and enthusiasm in a dynamic and balanced work environment.   Jalin is a national switching company that operates a network of links that are widespread throughout the archipelago. Jalin always maintains the comfort of employees' work by creating a work environment that ensures equality and equal opportunities for both male and female employees. Employees have equal career opportunities at the Company, including holding important positions for high-performing employees. This is reflected in the job opportunities that women can get at Jalin. Every year, the number of female employees at Jalin continues to experience a significant increase. In 2019, there were only 35 female employees at Jalin. However, this number will increase to 40 in 2020. Women also have the same opportunities as men in strategic positions as long as they have the required competencies and abilities. In 2020, there will be at least six women holding unit head positions and four women holding vice president/ head of dept positions. In the end, gender equality has become a goal that many companies want to achieve. Although, we are still not in an ideal condition from the perspective of the number of women in a company. However, we are currently moving in the right direction because every year, the number of women who occupy strategic positions in various fields increases. Achieving gender equality cannot be seen from the number of women in a company alone. However, we must look from a broader perspective about the opportunities, the rights that are obtained, and the absence of bias in making decisions. Because when women rise, companies will also grow.    

Ref: https://money.kompas.com/read/2021/03/08/114146726/hari-perempuan-sedunia-erick-thohir-targetkan-tiap-bumn-punya-direktur https://www.accenture.com/id-en/about/inclusion-diversity/gender-equality-innovation-research https://www.suara.com/lifestyle/2021/04/07/163000/ini-tantangan-yang-dihadapi-perempuan-di-dunia-kerja-selama-pandemi?page=all https://ekonomi.kompas.com/read/2018/03/10/070000426/survei--lebih-banyak-pemimpin-perempuan-kinerja-perusahaan-naik?page=all https://srikandibumn.org/tujuan/