Idle Hands: Workers sit around with nothing to do in a warehouse belonging to the General Elections Commission (KPU) in Palu, Central Sulawesi, on Monday
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Attitudes toward female leadership have changed ahead of the 2014 legislative election, as people have begun to be less apathetic toward them, activists working across Indonesia have said.
Sutriyatmi of the Indonesian Womens' Coalition (KPI) said on Friday that people in areas that lacked sufficient public services appreciated the work of local women, who helped residents access valuable resources and services. Compared to the 2009 election, when many were still indifferent toward women candidates, Sutriyatmi said she hardly ever heard: 'What can she really do?'
In a number of areas in East and West Nusa Tenggara, she said, it was the women who helped villagers source the scarcely available seeds ahead of the planting season, as well as helping them to apply for national health insurance (JKN).
'The JKN has been announced at the national level but little information has reached the localities,' Sutriyatmi told The Jakarta Post.
Sutriyatmi was interviewed following the nationwide launch of the Women's Movement for a Diverse Indonesia (Gerakan Perempuan Mewujudkan Indonesia Beragam) in Jakarta to coincide with International Women's Day.
On Saturday, a similar launch was held by women's groups, including local branches of the KPI, in places such as Bengkulu and Makassar, South Sulawesi. The women's groups are holding a month-long series of events such as rallies, discussions and exhibitions to campaign their '10-point political agenda', which seeks to ensure equality and the protection of marginal groups including women.
KPI secretary-general Dian Kartikasari told the Post on Saturday that 'if we could consolidate the women's movement in the next five years, we should be able to keep a close watch on the forming of policies at the national and local level'.
She had earlier acknowledged that despite the House of Representatives having the highest percentage of women ' 18 percent from 560 members from the 2009 general election ' the House passed too few laws that 'benefited the grass roots'.
The women's movement now is trying to be more united to ensure legislators pass laws that ensure more 'justice', Dian said.
An activist and legislative candidate from the National Mandate Party (PAN) running for the West Java legislative council in the Garut regency said that according to her observation, women politicians at the provincial level had proved to be more committed to their work than those at regency and municipal levels.
The local-level councilors were in 'shock', said Otang Qodarliyah, KPI West Java secretary, as they had not expected to be elected in 2009, and did not show improvement despite attempts to train them.
The KPI observed that 18 percent of women legislators across the 77 electoral districts were ranked in the top tiers by their parties, meaning their chances of winning seats were slightly higher than candidates placed by their parties
in lower tiers.
The General Elections Commission (KPU) has said that of the 6,607 contesting the 560 seats in the House, 37 percent, or 2,467, are women.
The 10-point political agenda of the Women's Movement for a Diverse Indonesia:
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