IBCWE and UN Women Held HeForShe Run 2018

Commemorating International Women’s Day, Indonesia Business Coalition for Women Empowerment (IBCWE) in cooperation with UN Women held a fun run event titled HeForShe Run 2018 as a form of support to achieve gender equality. HeForShe Run was held on March 4, 2018 starting at 6 am at Epicenter Epicwalk, Kuningan. Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia, Mrs. Puan Maharani took flag off and Vice Governor of DKI Jakarta Sandiaga Uno also participated in this event.

Minister Puan Maharani prepared to flag off the runners

Anne Patricia Sutanto, Chief Executive of HeForShe Run 2018 and Member of the Board of Advisory of IBCWE said, “Creating gender equality is closely related to forming sportsmanship. Gender equality will be achieved if women and men have equal opportunities, abilities, and options in their daily lives. This requires the participation of sportsmanship from both sides, men and women. For this reason, the IBCWE rolls out HeForShe Run as a venue for runners to state that they are willing to be sportive and support gender equality in the world of work and women’s economic empowerment. “.

This fun run activity was conducted to support gender equality through the HeForShe campaign initiated by UN Women. HeForShe is a solidarity movement that invites men and boys as equal partners and as change agents to accelerate the achievement of gender equality.

Sabine Machl, UN Women Representative says “Gender equality benefits women and men, and the whole community. Therefore, it is necessary for the whole community to take action and make it happen. Through the HeForShe campaign, we invite men and boys as equal partners to support gender equality and women’s empowerment. Let us use our voice to create transformative change, so that women and men have equal opportunity to achieve their full potential. “.

Runners crossed the finish line

In line with Sabine, IBCWE President Shinta Widjaja Kamdani conveyed the necessity of involvement of all parties to realize gender equality. “Gender equality will be achieved if women and men, have the will and action to work together to achieve equality. These efforts can start from the immediate environment such as the family to the work place. Particularly in the work place, the fact shows that the participation rate of women in the labor force is still lower than that of men. Moreover, the number of women in strategic positions in corporate governance bodies. Through this activity, we would like to invite all circles to jointly build awareness of the importance of men and women have the opportunity to contribute maximally and equally in the public space, especially in the world of work. “Said Shinta. Based on the registration data of participants, approximately 5,000 people follow the activities with nearly 40 percent of the runners are men.

While the fun run related to the gender equality campaign, IBCWE Executive Director Maya Juwita put forward the reasons for the selection of the activity. “Running sport that is now popular and cross-gender and age, it is seen as a medium to show and form sportsmanship among both male and female participants to reach the finish line. Symbolically, the implementation of HeForShe Run 2018 is expected to cultivate the same sportsmanship. The implementation of HeForShe Run 2018 is also expected to encourage the community, especially among men, to participate in and contribute to efforts to minimize the gender gap; and achieve gender equality in the world of work and economic empowerment of women, “said Maya.

Ibu Fetty Kwartati of MAP, one of IBCWE’s founders, drag the medal to the winner

The 5k and 10k runs in the HeForShe Run 2018 event consist of a number of age categories with a total prize of IDR 90 million. In this activity, the participants can also show attention and contribution to the issue of gender equality through the tagline creation competition behind the jersey and selfie competition at the seven points of murals along the track.