T

he Jakarta administration has long been a male-dominated field, with only a handful of female civil servants assigned to strategic posts.

Data obtained by The Jakarta Post shows that of 96 echelon II officials in the city administration in 2016, 17 of them '€” 21 percent '€” are women. Echelon II positions comprise heads of agencies, boards and bureaus.

Among the few females is 52-year-old Tuty Kusumawati, who has led the Jakarta Development Planning Board (Bappeda) since last year. Tuty, who earned her master'€™s degree from the Bogor Institute of Agriculture summa cum laude, is among civil servants often praised by Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama.

Tuty was handpicked by Ahok and was inaugurated in January 2015.

'€œBefore my inauguration, Pak Ahok sent me a message via BlackBerry Messenger. He said, '€˜there are many players in Bappeda, and I want you to help me fix it'€™,'€ Tuty told the Post on Monday.

Tuty started her career in the public service as a staff member at the central office of the National Population and Family Planning Board (BKKBN). After regional autonomy took effect, Tuty officially became a Jakarta civil servant at the Jakarta Bappeda in 2004.

Her journey to become head of Bappeda, however, was not an easy one. Tuty said she was often underestimated, and that her peers had tried to thwart her career countless times. Over the years, the head of Bappeda has been known as a strategic post for all the wrong reasons '€” the position has extensive power over the city budget, and is prone to corruption.

Moreover, Tuty said, the position was considered a masculine job. Thus far, only two women have ever held the position '€” Tuty and Sarwo Handayani, who retired last year. Tuty acknowledged that balancing her domestic life with her career was not easy, but said her policeman husband was of great help as they evenly divided parenting tasks.

'€œHiring someone based on their gender is no longer relevant. These days, I believe competence and character are number one. I ignored the negative sentiments toward me and continued to work within the regulations and do my best in every task,'€ Tuty said.

Fajar Nugrahaini, a 31-year-old echelon IV official at the Transportation Agency, has also succeeded in a working unit dominated by males. Fajar, who became a Jakarta civil servant in 2010, was inaugurated as head of the subsidized land transportation unit at the agency, and was the fastest among her peers to receive a promotion.

'€œFrom the moment I became a civil servant at the Transportation Agency, I was warned that this was a job for men. We even received physical training from the military,'€ she said.

As a junior civil servant at the Transportation Agency, she became a field traffic officer, managing traffic on the streets. She and her peers would also paint road markings during the day.

Currently, the Trisakti Transportation Management College (STMT Trisakti) graduate has the complex task of overseeing the long-awaited public transportation revitalization in Jakarta. Agency head Andri Yansyah has also made her his right-hand woman.

Fajar said she aimed to continue her studies in transportation economics to help further advance public transportation revitalization in Jakarta.

At the national level, the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) recorded in 2013 that 209,512 women held top positions across various sectors, 18 percent of a total of 1.1 million people working at managerial level.