InfoSAWIT, JAKARTA – Solidaridad Indonesia has proposed five measures to strengthen women’s rights and participation in sustainable palm oil certification, urging improvements to Indonesia’s Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) and Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) standards.
The recommendations aim to address gaps between women’s contributions to plantation activities and their formal recognition in land ownership, financing, farmer organisations and decision-making.
Women perform a range of plantation tasks, including fertilising, weeding and collecting loose fruit. However, their involvement does not always translate into equal access to training, institutional support or financial resources.
Data cited by Solidaridad indicate that women account for approximately 24.2% of registered land ownership, potentially limiting their access to cooperative membership and farmer empowerment programmes.
Solidaridad Indonesia Country Manager Yeni Fitriyanti said stronger sustainability standards must be accompanied by effective audits to ensure that protections are implemented in the field.
“Indonesia’s palm oil governance will become more resilient if we continue strengthening national certification instruments such as ISPO to provide real guarantees for women: recognition of land rights for farmer groups and secure employment contracts for workers,” Yeni said at a dialogue on women’s representation in the palm oil value chain in Jakarta on Thursday, attended by InfoSAWIT, October 29.
Solidaridad’s five recommendations include household-based farmer registration that recognises both spouses, transparent digital payment systems, gender-mainstreaming guidelines for independent smallholders, gender-disaggregated data collection and greater female representation in cooperatives and internal control systems.
The organisation also called for participatory audits that assess women’s actual involvement in decision-making rather than relying solely on documentation or the existence of gender committees.
Women smallholders have reported difficulties accessing institutional support when their names are absent from official records, despite managing plantations daily.
Solidaridad hopes the recommendations will inform policy improvements and create a more inclusive palm oil industry that recognises women’s contributions and expands their access to economic opportunities. (T2)
