TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - In the spirit of the annual International Women’s Day celebrated on Sunday, House of Representatives (DPR) Speaker Puan Maharani talked about women’s empowerment as a shared prioritized agenda between the government, public, businesses, and other stakeholders.

“I believe a nation will fail to prosper if the women are left behind,” wrote Speaker Puan Maharani who also happens to be Indonesia’s first female DPR Speaker.

She called for women’s involvement and participation in every line of development that not only takes form as affirmative policies but women’s involvement must be driven by respect and awareness for women’s dignity. Without that awareness, she said, women will always face social, cultural, economic, and political issues.

“This is it needs attempts to educate, disseminate, advocate, and facilitate a number of programs to consistently strengthen women’s role,” said Puan Maharani.

The PDIP politician believes that the core belief behind the quest for gender equality and gender justice is not about which gender dominates, but more about finding the corridor for both genders to fairly conduct activities without differentiating each other.

“This is the spirit we must seed in ourselves upon building a world where women and men have equal dignity, progress, and well-being,” said Puan Maharani in commemorating International Women's Day 2020.

BUDIARTI UTAMI PUTRI