The ultra-micro economy is women’s economy. Of the 63 million ultra-micro business actors, the majority are women. They are more resilient in facing the storm of the f inancial crisis. In the large business segment, many women have succeeded in reaching the top. Of the 1,928 board of directors seats in 489 financial institutions and BUMN, 362 seats or 18.78% are occupied by women. Among the 1,602 commissioner seats, 224 or 13.98 percent are occupied by women. They sit in the f inancial services sector, state-owned companies, and public institutions.
Sumber: Infobank
The Indonesian economy is not doing well. Market confidence has plummeted, causing the Composite Stock Price Index (IHSG) to collapse 6.12% to IDR 6,076,081 in trading session I on March 18, 2025 until trading was temporarily closed. The massive investor sell-off not only destroyed the JCI (IDX Composite), but also increased the yield on 10-year Government Securities (SBN) which reached 7.05%, or up from the previous day’s trading at 6.99%.
The rupiah exchange rate continued to plummet to Rp 16,580 per US$1 until this article was written on March 19, 2025. That was the lowest value after the 1998 monetary crisis which reached Rp 16,650 per US$1. Compared to the initial position in 2024 of Rp 15,390 per US$1, the rupiah exchange rate fell by 7.21%. Businessmen were also miserable, especially the manufacturing sector which received two blows. One, the burden of rising costs due to imported raw materials. Two, declining sales due to weak market demand. The middle class that determines market demand has fallen by 10 million people over the past five years.
In various informal discussions among intellectuals and the middle class, they are already worried about a repeat of the monetary crisis like 1998. Low confidence is increasing demand for US$ currency and gold, both of which have skyrocketed. Meanwhile, the fiscal is facing pressure. As of February, the state budget (APBN) had a deficit of Rp 31 trillion and taxes fell 30%.
According to Nailu Huda, an economist at the Center of Economic and Law Studies, the government must be more vigilant in responding to developments in macroeconomic conditions and the real sector which continue to be marked by waves of layoffs (PHK). “The policies taken by the government do not reflect efforts to recover the economy. The policies of the Job Creation Law to the weakening of the KPK (Corruption Eradication Commission) carried out by the Joko Widodo administration, the impact is now very much felt. President Prabowo’s policies are also the same, such as budget efficiency to 3-kilogram LPG, showing the leadership’s insensitivity to the fate of its people,” said Nailu Huda, an economist at the Center of Economic and Law Studies to Infobank in March.
Meanwhile, Poppy Amalia, Psychologist and Micro Expression Expert, said there was a fractal phenomenon whose signs were similar to those before the 1998 monetary crisis. Not only seen from the plummeting rupiah currency. But the leadership model and political development are similar to the New Order era. “We all pray that the monetary crisis will not happen again. But this situation, if it is measured by the fractal concept, seems to have similarities on various scales,” she told Infobank on the sidelines of the event before becoming a speaker at the Economy Outlook 2025 seminar held by Infobank Media Group with the Indonesian General Insurance Association in February.
The tsunami of layoffs is predicted to continue. In the f irst three months of 2025, 38 factories have closed. One of them is Sritex, which has more than 10,000 employees. The Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions stated that 44.069 million workers were laid off in January February 2025. The Ministry of Manpower also noted that the number of layoffs continued to swell from 25,114 people in 2022, 64.855 million people in 2023, and 77,965 people in 2024. Layoffs are increasingly suppressing people’s purchasing power which affects the performance of the real sector.
In addition to creating a new chain of poverty, large scale layoffs also often make women the first victims. This is because labor-intensive industries generally employ many women. For example, Sritex has 55% female employees. The decline in the manufacturing industry accompanied by a reduction in the workforce has reduced the percentage of female workers from 39.19% in 2019 to 36.32% in 2024 as data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).
António Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations (UN), has also said the same thing. “Women are 24 percent more likely to lose their jobs and experience a sharper decline in income. The gender pay gap, which is already high, will widen during the crisis,” she said in her speech during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021.
However, women usually take on roles when the economy is hit by a storm of crisis. When corporate f inances collapse, family finances become a concern so that people can survive in the midst of the crisis. For example, ultra-micro business actors who are Mekaar customers at Permodalan Nasional Madani (PNM) have actually grown aggressively during the COVID-19 pandemic from 6 million in 2019 to 7.90 million in 2020, then increasing to 10.8 million people in 2021 and 13.82 in 2022.
Mekaar customers are unbankable and even unfeasible customers, the majority of whom are women. “The number of active customers including UlaMM (micro segment) at PNM is 97% women, and specifically for Mekaar customers alone, 100% are women of productive age,” said Arief Mulyadi, President Director of PNM to Infobank last month. Currently, the number of Mekaar customers has reached 15.4 million, grouped into 890,000 groups in 7,500 sub-districts throughout Indonesia. While cumulatively, PNM has served 21.9 million micro and ultra-micro customers.
Likewise, BTPN Syariah’s ultra-micro customers have reached 7 million customers and all of them are women.
The ultra-micro economy is a women’s economy. This is because the ultra-micro segment filled by women is at the bottom of the pyramid of business entities (the bottom of the pyramid). Its portion reaches 98% of the 64 million micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Indonesia, with an absorption capacity of 89% of the total workforce, and contributing 37.35% of Indonesia’s GDP. Because one of the challenges faced by ultra-micro is the lack of guarantees to obtain financing so that the state intervenes more massively, especially in overcoming the financial crisis.
WOMENOMICS AND SIX CHARACTERISTICS
According to Goldman Sachs, womenomics is about women’s contribution to the workforce and opportunities for greater participation in the economy. Although they often face gender discrimination and are considered gentle creatures, women are very resilient in the face of adversity. They also find it easier to gain social support, are more flexible in adapting and can easily build networks.
When a crisis storm hits, women are more resilient so they can immediately become the driving force of the family economy by doing informal work. Women can create small business opportunities, such as making cakes, sewing local needs, selling laundry services, or processing existing resources to survive. That’s why ultra micro and micro business actors in the world are dominated by women.
According to Dewi Nuzulianti, Director of BTPN Syariah, empowered women will empower families in any situation. “The key for ultra-micro women to be resilient in any situation is to provide them with access to finance and financing and knowledge through ongoing mentoring and access to supply and markets,” she told Infobank. BTPN Syariah is a private bank that focuses on targeting women in the ultra-micro segment. According to a study by the Infobank Research Bureau entitled The Most Outstanding Women 2025, the role of women in the economy or womenomics can be seen from the following six things;
One, participation in the labor market. According to data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) as of February 2024, there were 21.98 million women working in the formal sector or 33.52% of the workforce. In the service sector, women play a role as workers in the tourism, health care, education, and other service sectors. In fact, informal employment in the ultra-micro segment is mostly filled by women. In large businesses, it has also been proven that more and more women can take opportunities and pursue careers to high levels.
According to Azizatun Azhimah, Director of Finance and Risk Management of Perum LPPNPI, gender differences do not indicate who is more deserving of job opportunities and career success. “It is not because of male or female gender to be able to get jobs and career opportunities. In fact, women have the uniqueness to support career progress,” said the former President Director of BRI Finance to Infobank last month.
Two, participation in organizational leadership. In the world, the highest position of state leadership began to be held by women when Sirimavo Bandaranaike became Prime Minister of Sri Lanka in 1960 and then continued to grow in 62 countries. Currently, there are 11 countries led by women. If added to the number of women who sit in cabinet, legislative, and other public institutions, the number is certainly even greater. According to the United Nations (UN), women occupy a quarter of national legislative members worldwide, a third of local government members, and only a fifth of cabinet ministers.
In Indonesia, there are a number of women occupying leadership positions in public institutions such as Sri Mulyani as Minister of Finance. In the ranks of the board of governors of Bank Indonesia (BI), there are Destry Damayanti, Filianingsih, and Aida S. Budiman. In the ranks of the board of commissioners of the Financial Services Authority (OJK), there are Friderica Widyasari Dewi and Sophia I Wattimena.
The number of strong women is even greater if you add the list of women who sit in corporate leadership positions. Of the 1,894 directors working in 436 companies in the financial services sector and state owned enterprise (BUMN) environment, 19.20% or 364 people are women. Meanwhile, 215 women sit on the board of commissioners. (See Table: Women Excel in Director and Commissioner Positions).
In the banking sector, there are Lani Darmawan who leads Bank CIMB Niaga, Meliza M. Rusli, President Director of PermataBank, Alexandra Askandar, Deputy President Director of Bank Mandiri, Parwati Surjaudaja who leads Bank OCBC NISP, and Vera Eve Lim who is the Director of Bank Central Asia (BCA) with Lianaty Suwono. In the insurance world, there is Juliati Boddhiya who is the number one person at Asuransi Central Asia (ACA) and Nina Ong who leads Great Eastern Life Indonesia.
In the multifinance industry, there is Lynn Ramli who leads Bussan Auto Finance and Matilda Esther Rotinsulu who is the Director of Astra Sedaya Finance. In the payment sector, there is Gretel Griselda who sits as CEO of Alto Network and Siti Hidayati who is the Director of Artajasa Pembayaran Elektronis.
Meanwhile, in state-owned companies, among them are Maya Watono who leads Aviasi Pariwisata Indonesia, Tri Andayani who leads Pelayanan Nasional Indonesia, Dwina Septiani Wijaya, President Director of Perum Peruri, and Asih Kurniasari Komar who is the Director of Pos Indonesia.
According to Indah Kurnia, Member of Commission XI of the House of Representatives (DPR), women can take the opportunity to excel and gain recognition, trust, and honor. “I see the structure for gender relations that are considered patriarchal in Indonesia has changed to egalitarian. This means that we all get the same opportunities and treatment. I have never felt discriminated against wherever I am, be it banking, economics, sports, culture, and politics,” she told Infobank in March.
Three, participation in producing goods and services. They even make important contributions in providing services to the community and entrepreneurship. For example, Dewi Kam who owns shares in PT Bayan Resources and is known as one of the 10 richest people in Indonesia. There is also Marina Budiman, founder of PT DCI Indonesia and Catherine Hindra Sutjahyo, founder of Zalora Indonesia who is now one of the shareholders and President of On Demand Services Gojek Indonesia.
Women also dominate activities in the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) segment. As many as 64.50% of MSMEs are filled by female entrepreneurs. Likewise, in terms of the workforce, there are more women than men in MSMEs, including those working in the informal sector. In the micro and ultra-micro segments, the portion is even larger. “Women are more focused on priority needs. Like Mekaar customers at PNM who prioritize business development needs to support the creation of additional income for their families,” said Triswahyu Herlina, Director of PNM to Infobank in March.
Four, participation in consumption, which is one of the driving forces of gross domestic product (GDP) in Indonesia with a contribution of around 53%. In the economy, especially in terms of expenditure, women have an important role because they are managers and decision makers in purchases. “Women are generally wiser in managing money, prioritizing essential expenses, so that decisions to make purchases are often made by women,” said Vera Eve Lim, Finance Director of Bank Central Asia (BCA) to Infobank.
Five, participation in financial management. Supported by a growing culture where women have the right to hold money from their husband’s income, women have an important role in managing finances, making budgets, making routine purchases, saving, and investing. In a pinch, women are usually smarter in managing money.
The Financial Services Authority (OJK) has also invited the financial services industry to continue educating women who are MSME actors. “So that more and more mothers are better at managing their finances, how to separate between business finances and family f inances, so that their businesses can continue to grow,” said Friderica Widyasari Dewi, Chief Executive of the Financial Services Business Actors’ Behavior Supervisory, Education and Consumer Protection of OJK, in a financial literacy activity held by OJK together with Infobank recently. According to her, women MSME actors have supported efforts to equalize the economy so that their role must continue to be improved.
Six, participation in social capital. Women, especially mothers, are often the main target recipients of social assistance such as Program Keluarga Harapan (the Family Hope Program) and basic food assistance. However, women also play a large role in carrying out socially valuable activities such as helping to deal with disasters or empowering the people’s economy. Women also do a lot of unpaid work, especially work in the informal sector. In fact, globally, the portion of women in unpaid work is quite high. The Organisation for Economic Co operation and Development (OECD) states that the number of days spent working in total, both paid and unpaid, is higher for women than men in most countries in the world.
This is in line with the reality where women are accustomed to doing work as housewives who do not get f inancial results. Statistics show that there are 33% of Indonesian women who are full-time housewives. While women who are both housewives and workers (working moms) reach 77%.
By willing to do work without being paid, women show their own uniqueness and value. Women are unique creatures so that many stigmas or myths are attached to them. However, many women have succeeded in becoming female leaders who are multitasking while dismissing the old stigma that places women as weak creatures and are only needed for kitchen, well and bed matters. Also, many women have succeeded in becoming cool-handed female leaders while dismissing the assumption of Liz Brizendine, author of the book The Female Brain, who said that women are “talkative” creatures. She said that women speak 20,000 words a day. While men only say 7,000 words.
The rupiah exchange rate continued to plummet to Rp 16,580 per US$1 until this article was written on March 19, 2025. That was the lowest value after the 1998 monetary crisis which reached Rp 16,650 per US$1. Compared to the initial position in 2024 of Rp 15,390 per US$1, the rupiah exchange rate fell by 7.21%. Businessmen were also miserable, especially the manufacturing sector which received two blows. One, the burden of rising costs due to imported raw materials. Two, declining sales due to weak market demand. The middle class that determines market demand has fallen by 10 million people over the past five years.
