Description
As part of efforts to move towards a more knowledge intensive and competitive economy, Indonesian development strategy has sought to promote research-led scientific innovation. Akin to many Asian economies, these moves have seen high levels of investment into higher education, with the aim of creating a higher education sector of world class standing – with a particular emphasis on the need to build capacity in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). At the same time, the Indonesian government has made significant strides in prioritising gender equality with the aim of fostering a more equitable and inclusive society. This is evident in various policies and initiatives including the Government’s medium term development plan (Rencana Pembangunan Jangkah Menengah Nasional 2020-2024) that includes specific priorities on empowering women in education and employment. In this context, STEM policy-making has evolved in Indonesia in ways that reflect a broader global policy consensus around the need to promote gender equality in STEM. Building on recent IPE work that has sought to uncover the gender politics of national economic competitiveness (see Elias 2020) alongside work exploring the political economy of higher education transformations in Asia (Jarvis and Mok 2019), this paper draws upon the case of Indonesian policies to promote women’s empowerment in STEM in order to investigate the gendered tensions and points of resistance that emerge out of policy agendas that position women’s empowerment as a necessary component of economic development success.
