“The Empowerment of Women in Contemporary Indonesia: Progress and Challenges” international conference was held under a cooperation between the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Center for Southeast Asian Studies and the Indonesia Women Alliance (IWA). This conference was held on 8-9 February 2019, at the 314 Royce Hall, UCLA, and was attended by 16 presenters worldwide that presented their papers regarding gender issues in Indonesia. This conference highlighted the research surrounding socioeconomic changes, religion and politics that have advanced or inhibited women empowerment in Indonesia in the past decades. There were five panels at this conference, which were:
Panel 1 : Women in Economy and Industry
Panel 2 : Women in Trade and Labor
Panel 3 : Women in Arts, Science and Media.
Panel 4 : Women in Islam
Panel 5 : Women Empowerment and Activism
Besides the presentations by the 16 presenters, this conference also featured several speakers, such as Parwati Surjaudjaja (President Director and the CEO of OCBC NISP Bank), Sonita Lontoh (Global Technology Marketing Executive, Thought Leader and Angel Investor), Jennifer Kussoy (Federal Reserve Bank of Los Angeles), Nana Firman (Greenfaith) and Agnes Muljadi (Ballerina, Actress and Photographer), as well as Professor Robert Lemelson (the Director and Producer of the 2014 film Bitter Honey) and Chisako Yokoyama (Editor) for the question-and-answer session.
Ken Ayu Galuh Satiti (Department of International Relations batch 2016) and Nurry Aidawardhani (Department of Communication Studies batch 2016) were the representatives of Universitas Gadjah Mada in this conference. They were the two youngest participants in this conference, as well as the only participants that are currently studying at the undergraduate level. Meanwhile, all other participants were from the graduate and PhD levels. Both Ken and Nurry presented their research entitled “PEPES: The Power of Emak-emak as New Digital Political Influencer in Indonesia’s Disruptive Era” in the Women in Arts, Science, and Media panel. They emphasized on the participation of middle-aged women (emak-emak) in politics and media. Emak-emaks are often associated with domestic labor and the lack of political and technological knowledge. However, with the advancement of information technology, emak-emaks in Indonesia are starting to use technology to express their political views.
Ken and Nurry’s trip to Los Angeles was supported by PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), PT Wijaya Karya and Fisipol UGM as a faculty with an international reputation that constantly creates young innovative researchers for the nation’s good. This delegation hoped that young researchers from Indonesia, especially from Fisipol UGM, can follow their footsteps to participate in international research conferences concerning gender issues in Indonesia, as well as to continue to support women empowerment in Indonesia.