Indonesia empowers women in the workforce

This stance was voiced by Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Minister Teten Masduki, who expressed his appreciation towards Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) which he said are mostly managed by women and able to empower themselves and provide for their family exclusively from their businesses.

He added that such MSMEs can potentially create new generations of established businesspeople. “Part of the female-driven MSMEs tend to be a survival economy to fulfill household needs,” the Minister said in a press statement.

“Assessing the situation and their roles in their family, we hope this will help emerge a generation of businesspeople from educated young people,” said Teten. He revealed data showing that 64% of MSMEs are culinary businesses established by women.

Women-driven businesses have become one of the government’s targets in creating 1 million established businesses. “[But] their problems lie in the productivity and product quality,” he explained.

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As such, the government is aiming to help these businesses in these areas. Besides helping these businesses recover in its post-pandemic plan, the government is also introducing digital transformation for 30 million SMEs by the year 2024, according to Tempo.co.