Confident of Being a Woman Leader in the Male-Dominated Sector

For Imelda Adhisaputra, the mining, information technology, industry and infrastructure sectors that are dominated by men are very challenging. Having held the position of president of one of the largest mining companies in the world from Australia, BHP Billiton, Imelda is not only based on firmness, but also trying to develop the potential of the women who work with her.

The world of work in Indonesia is still characterized by gender stereotypes that prevent women from pursuing careers in certain fields. A research conducted by the Qerja on 300,000 samples of staff salaries from 2014-2016 proved that there was still a salary gap based on sex. For the mining, oil and gas, and industrial sectors, there is a gap of 27.5 percent of salary between women and men. This means that with the same jobs in mining, oil and gas, and the industry men are paid 27.5 percent higher than women.

Important Ability As a Female Leader

In the midst of gender discrimination in the mining and industrial sectors that often occur, Imelda Adhisaputra was able to brush aside the stereotype. Awarded the summa cum laude master of science in civil and environmental engineering at Tufts University, Massachusetts, the United States, is not at all afraid to compete with men. “There are many case studies when I am in the mining world where flexibility, ability to negotiate and intuition as women become success factors in facing the challenges of the mining sector. And these things actually become the superiority of women than their male counterparts, “said Imelda, who currently serves as Regional Vice President in China Fortune Land Development.

As a female leader, Imelda understands that achieving this position is not easy, especially in a world that is mostly engaged in men, such as mining or engineering. Imelda’s strict and diplomatic disposition actually made her respected by her colleagues. “Being a female leader requires two times more effort than a man,” said Imelda who was once the Manager of Environmental Affairs at Newmont Nusa Tenggara. “A woman in a strategic industry such as mining, industry and technology must have skills that include the ability to adapt to rapid change, work under pressure, and the willingness to always listen and learn. Success depends on perseverance and perseverance, not IQ, “Imelda continued.

Increasing Women’s Potential = Increasing Productivity

Multinational companies where Imelda works generally already have gender equality policies. But Imelda often tries to encourage its application to be more maximal. One of the initiatives he has done is to improve the composition of women driving dump trucks in mining projects. “I read the results of a survey by the Canadian government in 1998 entitled Survey of Attitudes, Awareness and Behavior of Drivers. Inspired by the results of this survey, I encourage more women to take part as drivers of dump trucks at mining companies that I led at the time. ”

According to the survey, vehicles driven by women consume less fuel than men. “Ordinary cars or mining dump trucks basically have the same principle. So, I encouraged the company, the HR team, the Mining Operation team to provide greater opportunities and train female employees to become dump truck drivers, “Imelda explained.

The results are very encouraging. Not only did the number of female drivers increase, but it also managed to reduce fuel consumption and reduce the incidence of accidents. “It might not really be in the ratio of 50:50 women drivers, but the number increased from the previous one to only 1-2 people to around 10-15 people,” Imelda explained.

Becoming a Mentor to Encourage New Female Leaders

Not only in the field, this former Director of Corporate Affairs at Intel Corporation wants more women to take the helm of the company. “There are still many Indonesian women who do not have or are not given the opportunity to lead because of the constraints of opinions that assume that women are still not capable, too weak, less assertive, and so on to become the highest leadership of a company. I am aspiring to create a work place where women and working with respect