Women on the front row

Sun, 02/08/2009 11:23 AM  |  Headlines

The days until the General Elections on April 9 are numbered. While on the streets there posters of female candidates have begun to appear, debate continues as to whether to assist them by strictly enforcing the 30 percent quota for females or to let majority rule and the candidate with the most votes win, regardless of gender. To probe these questions, The Jakarta Post's Tifa Asrianti, Mariani Dewi and Emmy Fitri looked further into the representation of women in the House of Representatives.

Despite relevant education and experience, women still struggle for recognition of their ability to serve in public office. Their ability to serve not just other women, but the general public is often called into question.

"There are a lot of questions as to women's capability in legislative, administrative and even judicial bodies. The public is still learning about female leadership because it is still unusual," Masruchah, secretary-general of the Indonesian Women's Coalition, said. "Largely, they *men* view women as only able to serve in a domestic role."

The coalition of groups advocates the representation of women in politics and has made stronger gains over the past 10 years.

"We talked about a female president in 1999 but the rejection was really strong. Religious leaders *Ulema* were intervening and said it was against the religion *Islam*,"

"But in the end when Gus Dur *former president Abdurrahaman Wahid* stepped down and was replaced by Megawati *Sukarnoputri*, suddenly Islamic parties threw in their support," Masruchah said.

Under Megawati's administration however, the issuing of contentious ordinances by regional administrations, perceived as discriminating against women, thrived. Many however, saw this as an effect of rising *Islamic* fundamentalism and the over-eager celebration of regional administrative policies.

Secretary-general of the National Commission for Children's Protection, Arits Merdeka Sirait, said he has lot hope that female legislators - both in this period and before - will reflect a gender-sensitive perspective in their work. Arist is a children's advocate but said he has thus far never found legislators convincingly voice concerns over children's issues. "We expect women to be more sensitive than male legislators."

"I have had an upsetting experience with female legislators. Once in a hearing we presented our case but none of them even asked question. There were several female legislators in the hearing but they were not moved," he said.

Meanwhile Chairwoman of the National Commission on Violence against Women Kamala Chandrakirana says female legislators have shown inconsistency in acting on women's issues.

"They *female legislators* managed to pass a breakthrough trafficking law but the same parliament members also endorsed the anti-pornography law. Kamala said she suspects that this happens because female legislators have not been standing on their own two feet; "They simply cannot work by themselves."

Activist Yeni Rosa Damayanti shares Kamala's concerns. She believes that in the House, the factional policies play a major role in the decision-making procedure. The party line rules both male and female legislators, she said.

Yeni cited the example of Angelina Sondakh, a legislator from the Democratic Party. She strongly opposed the anti-pornography law, but, since the party decided to support the law, she was powerless to stop its passage. Therefore, she added, Indonesia needs not only legislators who are vocal, but who fight the factions for what they believe is right.

"This is the major hurdle. Until now, we haven't seen the female role in determining the factional policy. In my opinion, the 30 percent quota should be applied in the House and the organizational structure of the party, because the parties determine the policy of the factions," she said.

"Another hurdle is that many of the female legislators do not have a background in activism. As a result, they can not bring in and fight for women's issues. Also, many female legislators have no knowledge about women issues."

For the upcoming elections, however, there are several women rights activists who have taken the opportunity to run in this year's race; Ratna Batara Murti is one of them. Ratna, a candidate from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said that she decided to enter the politics to fight for the rights of women in the political party.

Ratna entered the party in 2008, after she held a seminar about the representation of women in the legislative. Former director of the Indonesian Women's Association for Justice (LBH APIK) said that she chose the PDIP because the party was serious about wome's issues. She cited that PDIP was behind UU PKDRT and rejected the Antipornography Law. The party's socialist economic platform and dedication to pluralism helped, she added.

"I represent the East Java 7 electoral district. It is one of the PDIP's basis areas, but the recent decision by the Constitutional Court to eliminate the party list preferences makes it more difficult for women. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's youngest son is also running in the area, so I face stiff competition," she said.

"I face problems not only from outside the party, but also have from within it. There are incumbent candidates, which make it hard for newcomers like me to get elected. I'm a newbie, not part of the cadre, so it is difficult to use the party's political machine to my advatage."

To fight her way into the parliament, Ratna cooperates with other candidates and has created a women's movement in the region because East Java lacks women's right NGO like the LBH or the APIK.

It is politics within politics as Eva Kusuma Sundari, as a legislator from PDI-P who also was engaged in activism before entering party politics, put it. Now inside the system, she is gaining momentum by speaking out louder than her male colleagues.

Meanwhile, political analyst Bvitri Susanti of the Study Center on Indonesian Law and Policy said that, in general, conditions for women seeking to enter parliament has improved. She said female legislators in the 2004-2009 period were better both in quantity and quality than at previous times.

"On quality, I see that female legislators in this period are more open and they have expanded their network with activists outside the parliament. That's why we have had better coordination."

However, she expects that for the upcoming term, female legislators will have more "gender sensitivity" and realize that their role as female legislators should enable them to see all regulation from a gendered perspective.

"Policies on health, labor, investment and agriculture should be seen from a gendered perspective. Therefore, they should share and expand network with groups outside the parliament. I also expect them to hold dialogs with their constituents at the grass roots level, to be cleaner politicians and be more obedient and seldom absent."

There are plenty of examples of the small impact women have made in the parliament but even still, women must be physically present in parliament to make a difference.

Masruchah said many female legislative candidates have impulsively joined political parties based on invitation and not on ideals or ideology. But she sees many of them as working hard to raise the bar - including by coordinating with activists and non-governmental organizations.

"All the women *in the parliament* want to change," she said.

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