Leadership Training for Female Teachers

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Article 10 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) concerns equality in education; it stipulates that participating countries, including Indonesia, must take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women to ensure equal rights with men in the field of education. In general, Indonesia has made significant progress in fulfilling equality in obtaining educational rights. Recognition from institutions such as the World Bank demonstrates this progress. On the other hand, the World Bank also found a paradox: although Indonesian women have access to education (high education participation rates), this does not translate into high participation of women in economic activities (World Bank 2020).

Data on teachers in Indonesia shows both progress and a continuation of this paradox. Women's participation in becoming educators is very high, even dominant. According to data from the Directorate General of Early Childhood Education, Basic Education, and Secondary Education of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology for the first semester of the 2022/2023 academic year, there are 3.3 million teachers across Indonesia. Meanwhile, based on data from the Katadata.com website, out of the total national teacher population, 2.36 million people or 70.84% are women. The number of male teachers is 972,050 people or 29.16%.

The paradox mentioned by the World Bank is also suspected to exist in the structural role of female teachers in educational institutions such as schools, teacher professional associations, and education agencies. Is the number of male school principals balanced with female principals? Using data on the number of female teachers, which reaches more than 70 percent, the structural role of female teachers should also be dominant. There is not much data that fully addresses this issue. However, there is research conducted by the Innovation Team, formed through a collaboration between the Indonesian and Australian governments on the issue of educational equality. Their research findings in 16 districts and cities in Indonesia reveals interesting data. While female teachers are dominant in numbers, female teachers take longer to receive promotions to school principal positions.

Other findings by the Innovation team also confirm the imbalance between the number of male and female school principals. At the elementary school level, where female teachers clearly dominate, only 30% of female teachers hold the position of school principal. It is reasonable to assume that a similar situation exists in structural positions in the Education Office, professional teacher organizations, and other structural roles in schools or educational foundations. It may not be due to ongoing discrimination, but rather because the leadership spirit and capacity of women have not yet developed further.

This training program is an effort to strengthen women's leadership capacity while also promoting gender mainstreaming more deeply, not merely ensuring their representation but also enhancing their role and initiative in broader contexts.