TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
5,000 runners take part in HeForSheRun
Change Size
(Photo: Courtesy of Indonesia Business Coalition for Women Empowerment)
T
he Indonesia Business Coalition for Women Empowerment (IBCWE) recently worked together with UN Women to host the HeForShe Run 2018, a special running competition to raise awareness about the importance of gender equality.
At this event, held on March 4 at Epicentrum Epiwalk in Kuningan, an estimated 5,000 runners signed up, of which 51.7 percent were men and 48.3 percent were women. The run, which included 5K and 10K categories, featured runners from all age groups competing for Rp 90 million in total prize money.
Throughout the event, runners were given the chance to demonstrate their awareness of the importance of gender equality through a contest to create a tagline for the jerseys they wore. There was also a selfie contest, which gave runners the opportunity to take pictures at seven different mural points along the running route.
The run was designed to celebrate the upcoming International Women's Day, which is held annually on March 8. It was also held in support of UN Women's HeForShe solidarity campaign that invites men and young boys to support the movement for women as equals and as agents of change for realizing gender equality.
"Realizing gender equality is closely related to the development of sportiveness. Equality in gender will be achieved if women and men have the same chances, capabilities and choices in their day-to-day lives. This requires sportive participation from both men and women. It is for this reason that IBCWE is hosting the HeForShe Run as a way for runners to show that they are willing to be sportive and support gender equality in the workplace and the economic empowerment of women," said Anne Patricia Sutanto, chief executor of activities of the HeForSHe Run and a member of the Board of Trustees at IBCWE.
The run itself kicked off on the morning of March 4 with a flag-off from Coordinating Human Development and Culture Minister Puan Maharani alongside the attendance of Jakarta Deputy Governor Sandiaga Uno.
IBCWE executive director Maya Juwita said the decision to choose running as the activity to commemorate International Women's Day also had to do with the goal of increasing sportiveness in the sports community.
"Running as a sport is popular and transcends the boundaries of gender and age, and can be used as a medium for showing and forming sportiveness among men and women in reaching the finish line. The HeForShe Run 2018 is expected to push the public, especially men, to care for and contribute to minimizing gender inequality and to create gender equality for the workplace and economically empower women," Maya said.
Registration for the HeForShe Run 2018, which ran until Feb. 22, included a registration fee of Rp 100,000. All fees will go toward implementing the run’s activities. The organizers make no profit. Each participant gets a race pack that includes a running jersey, a chest number, a timing chip and products from the sponsors.
