Women in new forestry roles inspire others to break down gender barriers
- APRIL’s Gender Action Plan aims to increase the proportion of women workers, across its forestry operations, including management.
- Actions address practical, social and cultural barriers to women’s advancement.
- Targeted programmes and initiatives have successfully trained women in roles that were traditionally held by men.
Through APRIL’s strategic push for gender equality across the business, the company is enabling women to take on non-traditional roles and advance into leadership positions.
Piloting drones, operating mechanised harvesting equipment and supervising plantations in the field are not jobs typically associated with women in the forestry industry. But these are just a few of the roles where women are breaking through barriers to take on positions once considered out of reach.
The Inclusive Progress pillar of the company’s APRIL2030 agenda sets targets for women’s empowerment and advancement in the company, alongside broader social goals.
Achieving these goals requires more than good intentions. It calls for addressing the social and cultural barriers that have limited women’s participation by creating an inclusive work environment that supports their growth.
Through APRIL’s Gender Action Plan, the company is implementing targeted initiatives to ensure women can thrive across all levels of the company. For example, APRIL has introduced support such as nursing rooms and daycare centres. It has also implemented Standard Operating Procedures to prevent sexual harassment and bullying, and provided mandatory unconscious bias training for all employees.
Eleven female forums have also been established across different business units and departments, enabling women employees to discuss equal employment opportunities and raise gender-related issues. In addition, more than 2,500 employees completed the online Gender Equality Training programme last year alone.
Another key initiative was the launch of the company’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Policy in March 2024. Developed in collaboration with the Indonesia Business Coalition for Women Empowerment, the policy aligns APRIL with international standards such as the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, reinforcing the company’s commitment to equal opportunity and zero tolerance for discrimination.
These measures are starting to have an impact on the company’s workforce composition. As part of the APRIL2030 agenda, the company has a target to increase the proportion of women in the workforce and in leadership positions to 20 percent. Currently, there are 3,611 women in the workforce, representing 18.1 percent, which is still below the APRIL2030 target at 20%. In senior roles, there are 64 women, accounting 11.9 percent of total leadership positions.
Across APRIL’s operations, women are stepping forward to lead, inspire and shaping progress. Here are their stories:
Piloting Drones for Precision Forestry
Drones are an increasingly important part of APRIL’s operations with a variety of uses including aerial observation, tracking plant health and deploying pesticides.
Nina Kurnia BR Sembiring is the coordinator for APRIL’s all-female drone pilot team, which has been in operation since 2023. The 15 pilots launch 30 flights a day covering up to 25 hectares.
“Being a drone pilot is not what women might consider doing, but APRIL has been expanding career paths for women, and supports our growth through several training programmes,” said Sembiring. She has obtained certificates as an operator and instructor, and she also holds pilot licences from the Indonesian Drone Pilot Association and DJI, a global provider of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology based in Shenzhen, China.
“I want to prove to all women in Indonesia that becoming drone pilots is not restricted only for men. I am a woman, and I believe I can nail it because I am confident and eager to keep learning. Technology is constantly advancing, and we need to stay updated,” she added.
Leading Operational Excellence in the Plantations
At Teso West Estate, one of APRIL’s plantations in Riau Province, the company launched a key initiative last year to establish an all-female team in operational roles, with technical training provided through the APRIL Learning Institute (ALI). The team is comprised of one Superintendent, five Assistants and 16 Supervisors who are all women.
Superintendent Dina Trinawati recalls feeling unsure about the role when she embarked on the training. “I questioned whether I was capable of working in the Plantation Department (Operational), given the high challenges and targets that were different from my previous job scope,” she said.
The programme has given her the confidence that she and her female colleagues can excel. “Now I believe that women are capable of working in plantation operations. The main challenges lie in the characteristics or uniqueness of women themselves,” she said.
The plan is to roll the programme out to other estates in the future and Trinawati says she hopes her team will inspire others. “Women must challenge stigmas and not allow them to become barriers or weaknesses that hold them back,” she added.
Leading the Harvesting Front
Another training programme that started last year was designed to up-skill the company’s first all-women mechanised harvesting team. Like all trainee operators, the seven women began with classroom lessons and simulator sessions, before moving on to further training using real equipment in the field. Their role involves operating an excavator with a special head attachment to fell and debark trees, before the logs are extracted from the compartment and loaded them onto trucks.
Lilis, who comes from neighbouring Penyengat village, recalled feeling quite hesitant about joining the programme. “I doubted my abilities as a woman — thinking I was weak, afraid of the heat, and scared of living in the forest. The idea of operating heavy machinery felt impossible,” she said.
The structured training helped shift her perspective. “I realized that everything can be learned step-by-step. The operational life here isn’t as frightening as people had made it seem, and over time my confidence grew,” said Lilis.
Now proud of what the team has achieved, Lilis hopes their journey will inspire others. “I want our experience to show other women that they can take bold steps forward and challenge the limits they think they have,” she said.
At APRIL, these women are redefining what’s possible in the forestry industry. While there is still more to be done to create lasting change, their experiences continue to prove that gender is no barrier to ambition. The company is committed to enabling that momentum through its actions to remove barriers to advancement and empower women.
APRIL’s 2024 Sustainability Report – Staying the Course – can be downloaded here.
