SDGs 4: Quality Education | SDGs 5: Gender Equality

International Women’s Day (IWD) is commemorated every March 8th. In 2024, IWD carries the theme #InspireInclusion, focusing on supporting the establishment of an inclusive environment.

Renada Latifah Firdaus, an alumni of the English Department who joined HopeHelps Network. This community is dedicated to addressing and preventing cases of sexual violence in university environment. The HopeHelps Network has local chapters spread across 17 universities in Indonesia, including one at Universitas Gadjah Mada. On this occasion, Renada aimed to share her ideas about fostering inclusivity on campus.

She said that on IWD 2024, there is much to celebrate after the long struggle for gender equality and the rights of gender minorities. However, there are still pressing issues today, with women and other gender minorities experiencing discrimination, objectification, and injustice. Most women are not feeling safe even in public spaces, due to the constant threat of sexual violence.

Renada, often called Rere, emphasized that International Women’s Day can only be truly celebrated when all women are included, regardless of identity, background, profession, beliefs, and life choices. Every woman deserves to feel safe, receive equal pay, and not experience oppression or gender-based violence.

Joining HopeHelps Network in 2022 with the goal of contributing to positive action against sexual violence on campuses, Rere serves as the Director of Human Resources Development (PSDM). By actively providing training for all HopeHelps members, she believes in the significance of her efforts. She also mentioned that, within the network, she has not encountered situations where individuals are treated differently. This is because HopeHelps Network consistently strives to create an inclusive environment for everyone that is actively supporting, listening to, and advocating for anyone in need. The community places a strong emphasis on providing support for sexual violence victims, primarily women, on college campuses to provide accessible step to justice.

In conclusion, Rere emphasized that the crucial message from IWD 2024 encourages us to ensure that inclusivity is achieved comprehensively, as it is one of the most important things to live in diversity. “We need to empower each other, stick together, and be there for each other during the hardships. No one is left behind; we are in this together.”

Rere’s involvement in this organization serves as tangible proof that anyone can actively contribute to create an inclusive environment. Whether it be professors, educational staff, students, or alumni, everyone can take real action to promote inclusivity. Hopefully, it will inspire more people to be aware and contribute to this issue. The university itself that has students from various regions across Indonesia, should be a safe and comfortable home for them, where they can grow and express themselves without any discrimination.

“A literature alumni can be a banker?!”

Tashia Maharani Tarmizi, an alumni of the English Department, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, UGM, who also had the opportunity to participate in a student exchange program at the University of York, has successfully embarked on her career in the banking industry!

Currently, Tashia works at Bank Central Asia, the top-ranked private bank in Asia, as a management trainee under the Management Development Program (MDP). In brief, MDP itself is a one year program created by BCA to train and nurture future leaders in the banking industry through comprehensive in-class lessons and on-the-job training experiences. In one year, trainees will undergo various rotations in different divisions within the company, such as operations, audit, sales and marketing, and credit analysis.

Her experience at BCA made her realize that working in a bank is not as boring as what many people say. During her first rotation, Tashia had the opportunity to learn about how the banking business process goes at one of BCA’s main branches. Not only did she gain practical work experience, she was also trained to think like a banker, with problem solving skills that offer the best solutions to challenges faced by stakeholders. This experience sharpened her knowledge of business industry and also honed her soft skills such as assertive communication, problem solving, and critical thinking.

One thing that she highlights about the program is its highly competitive recruitmnet process. But, she really appreciates how BCA conducts interviews that prioritize two-way communication. This step is genuinely used to understand the candidates in detail, including their background, motivations, personal goals, etc. Additionally, BCA focuses on a strong emphasis on human resource development, hence continuous learning through coaching, in-class lessons, and on-the-job training are integral parts that will be experienced by every candidate.

However, the journey that she had to take (and currently taking, and will take) is not all rainbows and butterflies. Her education background in literature requires her to study even harder, especially in the quantitative realm. Nevertheless, she believes that literature and humanities students have been accustomed to analytical and critical thinking, as well as viewing problems from various persepctives, which adds value to excel in this program and environment. Another challaange she faced was the shift in the working system from WFH (Work from Home) to WFO (Work from Office). As a person accustomed to the WFH system, this gave her another different experience. However, she is beyond grateful for it, as it brought her closer to her friends and colleagues.

One intriguing aspect of Tashia Maharani is that the thought of becoming a banker never crossed her mind. Previously, she worked as a full time entrepreneur at home, building a small business that aligned with her passion. Most people asked her why she gave up on spearheading her business in exchange to going back to corporate life. Her answer is pretty simple, she still has a strong passion and desire to learn. Whether she ends up as a banker or an entrepreneur, she is aware that there is so much she does not know about in this world. Tashia chose MDP because she believes that this program not only teaches how to be a leader but also allows her to meet people from different backgrounds and industries. Moreover, this job brings her closer to various aspects such as economics, trade, investment, etc, which are closely related to people’s daily lives.

In conclusion, Tashia emphasized that the MDP program and the banking industry, in general, is made up of people from diverse backgrounds, most of which are not direclty related to their current jobs. Tashia says, “Just because you come from a certain major, it does not mean that you cannot have a career in the banking industry. The most important thing is to have leadership and interpersonal skills, which can be honed through various activities such as organizations, student exchanges, internships, as well as the ability to analyze and think critically, which will guide you through various challenges.”

Photo 1: Tashia when she was attending the University of York as a student exchange through IISMA program. 

Photo 2: She had an amazing opportunity to visit the Embassy of The Republic of Indonesia to the United Kingdom, Ireland and International Maritime Organization in London.