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Girls take over leadership posts to promote gender equality
This year’s theme, Girls in Media, was chosen to build a positive public perspective about women in the media, according to YPII executive director Dini Widiastuti.
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High school student Manda Eka Azaria visits The Jakarta Post's office on Oct. 9. The 16-year-old student became chief editor for a day as part of #GirlsTakeOver, a movement to commemorate International Day of the Girl Child. Manda suggested some excellent story ideas during her time at the Post. (JP/Donny Fernando)
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n conjunction with International Day of the Girl Child on Oct. 11, child rights organization Plan International Indonesia Foundation (YPII) organized a campaign called #GirlsTakeover aimed at promoting gender equality.
This year’s theme, Girls in Media, was chosen to build a positive public perspective about women in the media, according to YPII executive director Dini Widiastuti.
“The campaign aims to highlight the fact that there are still representations of women and girls that need to be fixed, either on social media or conventional ones,” she told The Jakarta Post after a #GirlsTakeover event in Jakarta on Thursday.
Plan International collaborated with the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media to conduct a research project on the representation of women and girls in film and media by analyzing 56 top-grossing films in 2018 from across 20 countries. Resulting in a report titled “Rewrite Her Story”, the study found that 42 percent of male characters were depicted as leaders, compared to 27 percent of female characters.
It was also discovered that female characters in leadership roles are more likely to be sexually objectified (15 percent) than their male counterparts (4 percent), and the former are five times more likely to be sexually harassed than the former.
Although the report did not include respondents from Indonesia, Nazla Mariza from YPII, who revealed details of it on Thursday, said the Indonesia branch had conducted a similar poll involving nearly 3,000 respondents.
The poll shows that 83 percent of respondents believe a woman’s physical appearance is often presented in negative ways. It also shows that 77 percent of men are likely to lead.
