Azalea Ayuningtyas, the co-founder of social enterprise Du Anyam, on how her startup has established a blueprint to support women’s financial empowerment and independence across Indonesia
Indonesia, the largest economy in Southeast Asia, has made significant strides in lowering its poverty rate over the last two decades—dropping to 9.78 percent last year, compared to 19.1 percent in 2000. But its progress hasn’t exempted the archipelago nation from the consequences of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, which is now threatening to engulf its progress, and to a greater extent, women’s progress.
The pandemic exposed women’s particular vulnerability to economic shocks, and further deepened the gender inequality that is already prevalent in Indonesia. It resulted in a dramatic increase in the burden of unpaid work—primarily carried out by women—and as a result lowered women’s ability to make financial gains outside of the care economy. A United Nations report, Counting the Costs of Covid-19, found that 39 percent of women employed in ‘informal’ work may not have employment benefits or a contract, and are therefore put at significant risk.
Azalea Ayuningtyas, an Indonesian social entrepreneur, believes that helping women become financially independent is key to lowering women’s vulnerability to future economic shocks. In 2014, she co-founded Du Anyam, a startup which provides women in rural areas of Indonesia with an alternative opportunity to earn an income by learning to weave with native plants and selling their crafts through the Du Anyam community.
Providing women with the opportunity to work and earn independently of their partners effectively changes traditional gender power dynamics in the home, Ayuningtyas explains. “When women don’t have decision-making power it then becomes up to the male head of the household to make all the decisions—even down to whether she should give birth at home or at a clinic.”
One woman in particular comes to Ayuningtyas’ mind as she talks about the importance of financial independence. “She was a master weaver, she was very good and she loved it, but her husband didn’t think it could bring them any good,” Ayuningtyas says, explaining that in some rural Indonesian villages women are expected to remain within the realms of cooking, cleaning and childcare.
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