The appointment of Australian career diplomat Penny Williams as her country’s first female ambassador to Indonesia is expected to bring greater bilateral cooperation efforts on gender equality, experts say, with Australia and Indonesia both having women lead their respective foreign services and who have been working closely on these issues. Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne announced the appointment last week just as outgoing Ambassador Gary Quinlan ended his three-year tenure in Jakarta. His successor is also a career diplomat at Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), who recently rose up the ranks to become deputy secretary. Williams is fluent in Indonesian and spent time in the country as a high school exchange student back in the early 1980s. She has previously served as Australia’s high commissioner to Malaysia and was the f...