Samarinda, July 8 -- Indonesian women are being encouraged to take a more active role in strengthening rural economies by joining the government's Red and White Village Cooperatives initiative.

Minister of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises, Budi Arie Setiadi, said women currently make up about 49 percent of Indonesia's 29.8 million cooperative members and 38 percent of cooperative operators.

"Women are the backbone of cooperatives," he said during the 2025 National Working Meeting of the Family Empowerment and Welfare (PKK) Movement in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, on Tuesday.

He noted that President Prabowo Subianto has instructed the establishment of 80,000 Red and White Village Cooperatives across Indonesia. The initiative...