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ozens of female rights activists, scholars, students and politicians decided to form a Bali women’s political caucus following a public discussion on Friday that revealed the need to increase women’s political participation and leverage.

Held at the Denpasar Legislative Council building, the discussion was attended by only three of the 30 invited women councillors. The three councillors were Ni Nyoman Sumiati of Karangasem, Tutik Kusuma Wardhani of Buleleng and Utami Dwi Suryadi of Denpasar.

Sumiati and Wardhani talked about their political journey to underline what they said was a prevalent discriminatory culture practiced by political parties and male politicians. Such a culture was
one of the primary barriers preventing women’s participation in politic.

“Male politicians still find it difficult to accept women in a party’s structure,” Sumiati said, admitting that at one point in her campaign she had to hire bodyguards to cope with the political pressure.

Similar discriminatory treatment was also experienced by Wardhani. Fortunately, prior to her involvement in politics she was an active social worker with an extensive network among NGOs.

“I fought back [when I was discriminated against] and had the courage to do so because my NGO friends totally supported me,” she said.

Recently, Wardhani announced her intention to run for the position of Buleleng regent in the upcoming regional election. It was a brave decision considering Buleleng is known as one of the island’s political hot spots, where political differences often lead to bloody clashes.

The caucus is expected to lure more women into politics.

“Bali is among a few regions in Indonesia with the smallest number of women councillors,” women empowerment organization Bali Sruti director Luh Riniti Rahayu said.

In the 1999 election, no women were voted into the legislative council on the resort island. Only 4.5 percent of the total number of regional councillors elected in 2004 election were women. The percentage rose to 7.5 percent in the 2009 election.

“Women’s political participation and leverage are crucial if we want to ensure that legislation and political policies are sensitive to gender issues. So far, many bylaws and pieces of legislation still demonstrate patriarchal bias,” she said.

She pointed out the failure of the island’s legislative council to draft bylaws on domestic violence and women’s protection as an obvious example of that bias.