Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Linda Amalia Sari revealed on Friday that efforts to bring about gender equality faces cultural barriers, particularly the patriarchal mindset of society.

“This cultural obstacle impacts the structural authority and affects the bureaucrats’ attitude through a stereotypical distinction in considering the gender-equality issue,” the minister said on Friday.

To promote gender quality, the minister has asked the National Institute of Public Administration (LAN) to include “gender mainstreaming” in its public servants training.

“We hope, in the future, gender mainstreaming will be integrated into LAN’s curriculum,” Linda was quoted as saying by Antara news agency.

The minister noted that gender mainstreaming is a cross-sector issue which is very important for reaching a consensus to create an accommodating atmosphere for gender equality.

“This is in line with the agreement between the Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry and LAN regarding the Memorandum of Understanding [Mou] for gender-mainstreaming acceleration, which has already been signed,” she added.