Part 1

• The Intersection of Digital Communication Technology, Gender and Literary Critique: An Analysis of Female Bookstagrammers in Indonesia Ramayda Akmal Universitas Gadjah Mada

  Digital communication technology, particularly social media, serves as a significant platform for users to disseminate ideas, create artistic content, and engage with literary works. It facilitates the formation of new and inclusive literary environments beyond traditional print-based systems, thus reshaping relationships among writers, readers, and critics.

  This study examines how Instagram has catalyzed a shift in literary critique among female bookstagrammers in Indonesia, who use the platform to share their content and engage with literature. It investigates how female bookstagrammers integrate social media into their professional literary endeavors, shedding light on their activities and contributions within the literary community. Thereby, this research examines how Instagram can be leveraged to promote gender equality in Southeast Asia’s workplace landscape, and what are the key challenges to achieving this goal. As part of the laboratory titled “Digital Technology and Gender Dynamics in the Workplace in Southeast Asia” at EUROSEAS Conference 2024, this study seeks to integrate Indonesia’s digital literary scene into a wider scholarly discourse on the junction between gender, digital technology and Southeast Asia’s workplace landscape.

  For these purposes, five Indonesian female bookstagrammers and their accounts were selected as research objects. These include @sintiawithbooks, @byputy, @descanto1, @kalis.mardiasih, and @visarahleiden. This selection is based on popularity, the inclusion of different styles, book tastes, narratives, and their determination to take heed to gender issues in their contents.

  Relying on discourse and content analysis of Instagram posts and semi-structured interviews as methods, this research reveals two main outcomes. First, it discovers the emergence of a new stance in Indonesian literary criticism fronted by bookstagrammers, whose position as readers, reviewers and critics mutually overlap. Second, there are various narratives, visual materials, and social media interactions that reflect the diverse ways in which gender dynamics intersect with how Instagram has become a digital workplace.

• Advancing Inclusivity for Women with Disabilities in Indonesia’s Digital Transformation Journey: A Case Study of Prakerja Programme Olivia Prastiti Populi Center

  Research on women with disabilities in Indonesia highlights a digital gap compared to the non-disabled community. Data from the SMERU Research Institute reveals that only 18% of persons with disabilities (PwDs) have internet access, contrasting with 50% among the non-disabled. The lack of precise information on the condition of women with disabilities (WwDs) suggests a deficiency in government inclusivity principles. The shift to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic, reliant on digital technology, exacerbates challenges for PwDs due to unfriendly interfaces and limited digital skills. If Indonesia wants to achieve their ambitions as “Golden Indonesia 2045”, the Digital Transformation Road Map should be more inclusive for WwDs.

  This paper aims to examine the Prakerja (Pre-employment) Programme, a government initiative aimed at bolstering skills among Indonesia’s labor force. While Prakerja has been lauded for enhancing the competency, productivity, and competitiveness of female beneficiaries, it falls short in addressing the needs of PwDs, especially WwDs. Through in-depth interviews with stakeholders from the Prakerja Programme and the Indonesian Association of Disabled People, this study aims to identify and address existing challenges. It hypothesizes that expanding the regulatory framework within Indonesia’s Digital Transformation Road Map is necessary to foster inclusivity within the Prakerja Programme. The absence of such a roadmap resulted in government initiatives lacking a clear focus on promoting inclusivity in digital transformation efforts.

• The Myth of Flexibility and Work-Life Balance: Gendered experiences of Women as Online Motorbike-Taxi Drivers in Indonesia Treviliana Putri University of Groningen

  Gig economy has transformed the landscape of work for the past few years. It also offers what Mäntymäki et al. (2019) billed as digital temporality. In other words, gig workers are afforded the convenience of deciding their work time, depending on their schedule and other responsibilities that they may have. This high degree of flexibility is proven to be a major incentive, especially for those juggling multiple responsibilities (Wu et al., 2019). The digital temporality offered by gig work is stated to allow women to have flexible and autonomous working arrangements (Hunt & Samman, 2017), thus creating a more inclusive workforce for them. This research will critically discuss the working experience of female drivers in Indonesia and the notion of flexibility that is often discussed as an advantage of working in the gig economy. It will assess the concept of flexibility and work-life balance and how it is perceived and experienced by them.
  This study uses phenomenology as an approach to understand the common experiences of female online ojek drivers in Indonesia. Face-to-face in-depth interviews were conducted in five cities, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Jakarta, Makassar, and Medan, in Indonesia from July until October 2020. In total, 30 female motor-bike drivers were chosen as participants in the face-to-face in-depth interview.
  In assessing women experience as online ojek driver, we applied Lehdonvirta’s (2018) assessment on the structural constraints in gig economy, namely: the availability of work (algorithm-based distribution of work) and the workers’ dependence on income from the work (gig work as main source of income). Deriving from Lehdonvirta’s work, this study will assess the notion of work flexibility and how it applies to the experience of the female online motorbike taxi (ojek) drivers in Indonesia.
  This study finds that the notion of flexibility within this sector does not really translate into the reality due to structural constraints that lie within the practice of this industry. For most women who treat the job as their main income, the burden and constraints remain equally heavy for them between the work and domestic matters. Moreover, aside from their men counterparts, they perceived a specific layer of constraint due to their gender attributes.

Part 2

• Gender Dynamics and Drone Enterprises in Indonesia: A Digital Ethnography Monika Arnez Palacký University Olomouc

  Drone technology has brought about significant changes in the way businesses operate and the skills required for various jobs. However, the gendered implications of this technology have received limited attention in scholarship. This paper aims to address this gap by examining how drone enterprises shape gender dynamics in the Indonesian workplace, with a focus on the internet presence of selected drone companies operating in Indonesia, utilizing digital ethnography methods. Digital ethnography will be used to examine the online presence of the selected drone companies. Paoli and d’Auria (2021) define digital ethnography as a form of ethnography that considers online social spaces, adapting ethnographic methods to the study of online communities and cultures. This approach allows audiences to enter the experience of a culture through immersion, providing a deeper understanding of how gender dynamics are constructed and negotiated in the digital spaces of drone enterprises. This method will be used to reveal how everyday narratives, visual material, and social media interplay with digital technology (Underberg and Zorn 2012). By using digital ethnography, this paper aims to gain a deeper understanding of how gender dynamics are constructed and negotiated in the digital spaces of these drone enterprises. The paper will reveal how visual material, and social media reveal insights into the diverse ways in which gender dynamics interplay with digital technology at the workplace, in line with the focus of this laboratory. Moreover, the study will review existing research and industry reports on drone technology in Indonesia. The findings will contribute to a more in-depth understanding of how gender dynamics are negotiated in the drone business.

• The Intersection of Gender Dynamics and Digital Technology in the Workplace: Insights from Social Media Narratives and Visual Material Medelina K. Hendytio Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Jakarta

  Cultural norms, organizational values, stereotypes, and, lately, social media shape the gender dynamic in various contexts. Online gendered disinformation that undermines women’s roles and abilities has strengthened stereotypes and biased perceptions against women workers, thus worsening the existing gender dynamics in the workplace. A study by Blair-Loy et al. (2017) shows that subtle forms of discrimination include heavier scrutiny accorded to female applicants than male applicants.
  Using content analysis, this paper will explore how false narratives and exploitative visual material circulated in social media (Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok) contribute to a cycle of gender inequality in the workplace and how they influence societal perceptions of women workers and impact women’s career paths. Through this method, we will be able to identify the most prevalent forms of misinformation and disinformation targeting women workers, as well as the source and purpose. The paper will also discuss the employer’s response to the gendered disinformation and elaborate on the measures taken to protect equality and fairness in the workplace.

  Equally important is understanding the Platform company policies and guidelines for addressing harmful content perpetuating gender stereotypes.

  Interviews with Tech companies that have offices in Jakarta will be conducted to get insight into fact-checking procedures, level of transparency, and accountability to the public. Assessing fact-checker capacity is also important to observe efficacy and bias perception over certain genders, as men dominate the checker position. (Hendytio, 2024, forthcoming).

  This research contributes to understanding the complex relationship between gender dynamics and digital technology. It provides recommendations to platform companies and employers to promote a more inclusive and equitable work environment. The findings could be utilized by the Women’s support networks to strategize their advocacy and interventions.

• Navigating Public Spaces from the Private Room: Niqabi Women, New Workspaces, and Digital Technology in Indonesia Yuyun Sunesti Universitas Sebelas Maret

  This research endeavors to investigate the impact of digital technology on niqabis, where the distinction between private and public spaces is becoming increasingly blurred, giving rise to a novel phenomenon. This phenomenon significantly affects the concept of a dynamic workspace for niqabi women. Digital technology have introduced a new public space for niqabis to engage in networking, interaction, and economic development through business activities that were previously inaccessible to them. The commitment to maintaining private spaces has become a shared belief among niqabis, where the delineation between private and public spheres presents a clear choice they must make. Drawing from the Salafi manhaj they adhere to, niqabis distinguish public spaces as areas outside the home where they are required to limit their presence, regulate their behavior if compelled to be present, and identify which public spaces they can tolerate engaging with. On the other hand, private space refers to the confines of their homes, where they are encouraged to spend their time and enhance their capabilities within the confines of their participation. Digital technology has emerged as a conduit for niqabis who wish to remain within private spaces while accessing modern public spheres. This study employs a qualitative approach, gathering data through in-depth interviews and observations of 10 niqabi women in Surakarta, Indonesia, spanning various age groups. Utilizing Eagly’s social role theory perspective, this study identifies the emergence of new occupational roles and social identities for women that allow for simultaneous engagement in private and public spaces. In this context, it examines niqabi women in Indonesia.

Abstract