Svida Alisjahbana discusses her contribution to empowering Indonesian women through mass media and online social communities.
Chapter: Nurturing and developing female talent
About: Svida Alisjahbana was the CEO of Femina Group, a leading women’s and lifestyle publishing house in Indonesia. She started two programs for career women called Indonesia Women’s Forum and Femina Wanita Wirausaha, which now have tens of thousands of members and have directly impacted more than 100,000 women. Today, she runs GC Media Group, which empowers women, beauty, and creative talent. Aside from her professional career in media and journalism, she’s also active in several social movements and initiatives that address and advocate for a variety of women’s issues.
Tell us about your career journey as a female leader in Indonesia’s mass media industry.
After finishing my studies in the United States, I joined Femina Group in 2001 after a short stint in GE Capital Mid-Market Finance. Despite the career shift from finance to media, I immediately fell in love with the role. Femina Group is one of the first Indonesian media groups to discuss women’s everyday issues. My aunt and mother co-founded Femina to fill a void in the Indonesian publishing industry, which used to be mainly dominated by men. These women played such an important role in giving exposure to female issues. Ever since then, I have loved managing and creating movements that can bring advancement for women.
Aside from your main job as CEO of GC Media Group, you mentioned that you are also involved in social initiatives related to women’s issues. Can you tell us more about these community-building initiatives?
Each one has its own journey. I served on the board of Jurnal Perempuan, focusing on the real issues of women in rural areas and across Indonesia. My latest initiative is to create Wanita.Network as a platform for Indonesian women to advance. I am also taking on a role in the Indonesia Chamber of Commerce as the gender equality issues officer, and I served in a role to promote the advancement of women.
“My passion has been about women’s advancement, so most of the initiatives are centered on that issue.”
In my media work, I have slowly transformed the media from a pure content provider to a community builder because of the technological shift. I started an online community called Wanita. Network, which was mainly designed to create a space to catalyze women’s self-advancement. The idea of that portal is to put together all women’s organizations so they can collaborate. The network now has more than 14 million well-connected peers of different ages and social groups. Through this community, women from all over Indonesia can exchange ideas and discuss topics ranging from child education and cooking to fashion and of course opportunities to advance in society. For example, the Indonesian Business Women Association is an organization of women entrepreneurs throughout Indonesia. My vision is to unite many women’s organizations so they can collaborate and share ideas, and we established a forum to unite Indonesia’s working women. We are working together to be the communication channels. In the same year, Women in Mining and Energy (WiME) knocked on our door. They wanted to create an entrepreneurship program to advocate issues on illegal mining. With our help, they could gain support from the local government or local organizations.
For me, it was an exciting experience. I learned how Indonesia needs more mentoring and cross-collaboration. Therefore, we need the appropriate platforms to deliver any aspirations and issues related to women.
What sort of advancements in gender equality have you seen? Five years from now, what will we need to do differently to promote and empower women?
Gender equality is a human right and a key factor for sustainable development. Women have made much progress in various fields, including digital media, where they bring their creativity and multitasking skills. However, there is still a long way to go to achieve full equality of rights and opportunities between men and women. We should not assume that women will rule more or that men need reverse gender equality. Instead, we should work together to create a more balanced and inclusive society for everyone
Request a free copy of the Empowering Women: A Collection of Thoughts from Women Leaders to Advance the Workplace.
Comments