Engaging women workers in automotive industry

 Learning experiences from PT Gajah Tunggal, a tire manufacturing company in Indonesia, in implementing gender responsive human resource policies to promote women empowerment.  

 PT Gajah Tunggal Tbk. (Gajah Tunggal) is one of the tire maker companies in Indonesia founded in 1951. The automotive industry, such as the Gajah Tunggal factory, is often dominated by men."Gajah Tunggal company has almost 18,000 workers. Only 2.5% of them are female workers in the factory and 1% of them are female workers in the management, "said Catharina Widjaja, Director of Communications and Investor Relations at PT Gajah Tunggal Tbk at the Multi-stakeholder Dialogue themed 'Understanding Women's Rights at Work' organized by Indonesia Global Compact Network (IGCN) on October 19, 2018."There might be a prejudice that tire manufacturing companies are male dominated industry and not women-friendly," said Catharina.  To engage women in a male-dominated industry, Gajah Tunggal is trying to assess the company's practices.

"Our company gives equal employment opportunity. There are no job vacancies that prioritize men or women. " explained Catharina. "The Collective Labor Agreement (PKB) also includes the right to maternity leave in accordance with labor regulations from the government," added Catharina.

Gajah Tunggal strives to increase women's representation in the company in the future. "We target at least 50-50 male-female composition for job applicants. This is not a quota. It shows however our efforts to attract more female job applicants, "Catharina said. "The next process of selecting workers then treated equally based on competence." she added.According to Catharina, the challenge ahead is to change perspectives preventing women from occupying higher positions. "Some employees refused to be promoted because they did not want to be in a higher position than their husbands or did not want more tasks because of their responsibilities at home." explained Catharina.

“If you want to be treated equally, you must feel equal.” – Catharina Widjaja, Director of Communication and Investor Relations at PT Gajah Tunggal Tbk.

Catharina, as a women minority holding position at Gajah Tunggal’s board of directors, gave a successful advice for female workers. "In principle, even if you are a woman or a man, you must achieve the same KPI (Key Performance Indicator). If you want to be treated equally, you must feel equal. "Said Catharina.

Introducing Gender Equality and Social Inclusion in Job Training and Internship

Rajawali Foundation works with SINERGI, one of USAID projects, to conduct training and inclusive job training for disadvantaged and vulnerable young people including women and people with disabilities 

 The issue of Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) has yet to be integrated and implemented in training and internship activities. Generally, these two activities do not specifically address GESI, but more on preparedness to work and regulations. As a result, women and people with disabilities are often underestimated in their work, even so much as to receive unfair and distasteful treatment. Many of their rights are not considered and fulfilled. 

"Dismantling mental blocks of both persons with disabilities and non-disabled people is very important, so they can establish equality."

 Rajawali Foundation through SINERGI Project, as a USAID program focusing on inclusive workforce for poor & vulnerable youth, including women and people with disabilities, thinks GESI is very important to be introduced in trainings and internships. As the initial step to introduce GESI, SINERGI held a workshop on the Implementation of Training and Internship Method and Facilitation Technique with Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Perspective in 2018, at Room Inc. Hotel, Semarang.GESI issue in job training and internship also needs to be integrated on the training curriculum and module. The same goes for the facilitators or trainers, both women and men must be well represented.On the social inclusion issue domain, workshop participants gained understanding on Breaking the Mental Block for Disabled Youth and Understanding the Pyscho-Social and Cultural Characteristics of Disabled Youth Training Participants. All workshop participants also listened to testimonies from eight youth with disabilities from Komunitas Sahabat Difabel (KSD) of Semarang City.In the testimony, it is described that breaking mental block is very important for both disabled and non-disabled people to create equality. The disabled youth asked the workshop participants to learn to understand the psycho-social condition of people with disabilities. They can be empowered and do good work when given the opportunity and not being underestimated. 

 

"They can be empowered if they have opportunity to work and not being underestimated."

 In addition to obtaining understanding on GESI through presentation and panel discussion, workshop participants were also engaged to develop and present their action plan and implementation or GESI perspective job training method and facilitation technique, and also practiced micro teaching on the approach and technique of mentoring youth with disabilities, facilitated by a team from Kerjabilitas.After this workshop, participants, consisting of Action Group (POKSI) members, Job Training Providers (BLK) and Job Training Agencies (LPK), consortia coordinators from 3P (Company – Government – Youth) components, as well as companies partnering with 3P consortia for internship activity, are expected to understand GESI. Furthermore, they are also expected to be able to design their action plan on GESI-perspective job training and internship method and facilitation technique, to be implemented in their respected organizations/institutions.