JAKARTA AND CANBERRA – 27 JULY 2022. In a first for the bilateral relationship, women leaders from some of the largest businesses in Indonesia and Australia met on 27 July 2022 to discuss opportunities to deepen trade and investment ties between the two countries.

Australia’s Chief Executive Women (CEW) and the Indonesia Business Coalition for Women’s Empowerment (IBCWE) are working together with funding and support from Katalis, a program established by the Australian and Indonesian governments in support of the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA) and Investing in Women (IW).

The partnership aims to promote women in leadership in Indonesia and Australia, sharing lessons on how women are overcoming barriers to lead emerging international trade and investment opportunities between the two countries.

Women continue to be underrepresented in leadership positions in the Indonesian and Australian business communities. Research developed as part of the new partnership found just 15 per cent of executive leadership team roles are held by women amongst Indonesia’s top 200 listed companies and only 4 per cent have women CEOs.

This compares to the findings of the Australian CEW Senior Executive Census 2021 which found women held 26 per cent of positions in executive leadership teams amongst the ASX300 and only 6 per cent of Chief Executive Officer roles.

President of CEW, Sam Mostyn AO, has welcomed the opportunity to bring together senior businesswomen, to support both the trade and diplomatic relationship between Indonesia and Australia:

“We are delighted to be supporting the inaugural Indonesia-Australia Dialogue on Women’s Leadership in Trade and Investment. This presents an exciting opportunity to bring together highly accomplished women, at the forefront of commercial decisions which materially impact upon trade between Indonesia and Australia. This is a striking example of how soft-diplomacy and women’s leadership can help accelerate progress on a bilateral trade relationship. We hope this dialogue is the first of many and generates a number of new connections and opportunities. We thank Katalis and Investing in Women for their continued support for women’s leadership, particularly in frontiers like trade and investment.”

The Dialogue was co-chaired by Ms. Mostyn and Debby Alishinta, Managing Director and Co-Leader of Resources at Accenture Indonesia. The Dialogue will feature a range of high-profile speakers to discuss emerging opportunities in key growth sectors including agri-business and food, education and training and the digital economy. The line-up includes, among others, Shinta W Kamdani (CEO Sintesa Group and B20 Indonesia Chair), Melanie Masriel (Chief of Corporate Affairs, Engagement and Sustainability of PT L’Oréal Indonesia), Risa E. Rustam (Director of Indonesia Stock Exchange), and Puni Ayu Anjungsari (Country of Head Corporate Affair of Citi Indonesia). On the Australian side, CEW members, Jennifer Mathews (National President Australian Indonesian Business Council), Romilly Madew (Australia G20 EMPOWER representative) and senior representatives from Macmahon Holdings, ANZ, Ramsay Health and University of Melbourne will be joining the Dialogue.

Maya Juwita, Executive Director of IBCWE, says the Dialogue represents an important opportunity to addressing the disparities in women’s leadership facing both Indonesia and Australia:

“There are so many opportunities across key growth sectors to advance bilateral trade, and I believe, by supporting women’s leadership we also support the growth of those sectors. Indonesia’s presidency of G20 in 2022 provides an opportunity to demonstrate our leadership on supporting women in the private sector, by reversing the under-representation of women leading businesses in Indonesia. Our partnership with CEW, IW and Katalis is supporting us to deepen progress in this area, through research, our recently announced trade leadership scholarship, and of course the inaugural dialogue.”

The dialogue was held virtually on Tuesday, 26 July, with participation from senior female executives from Indonesia and Australia. In addition to being a catalyst for connection and knowledge-sharing, the dialogue will inform Australia and Indonesia’s response to the G20 EMPOWER Initiative, which promotes women in the private sector.