W

omen'€™s rights activists plan to personally meet with Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo to persuade him to annul laws and bylaws that discriminate against women.

The Home Ministry has identified 139 bylaws that it believes violates the rights of women. The ministry, however, has declined to give any specific details about the problematic bylaws.

Legal expert Bivitri Susanti said that the government should have been able to solve these problems earlier as these problems had persisted for more than a decade.

'€œThere are hundreds of problematic bylaws that have been enacted since 2002. The government seems unable to control them simply because they are not courageous enough to annul them, especially those related to, or emanating out of, religion. This has a good deal to do with the present political dynamics in the country. My suggestion is that activists and the ministry form a special team to pinpoint which bylaws ought to be annulled,'€ Bivitri told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

The activists, allied with the Women'€™s Movement for a Diverse Indonesia, said that many regulations had limited women'€™s movement, freedom and access to economic welfare.

'€œThere are more and more bylaws that regulate a female'€™s privacy rather than more pressing problems that deal with people'€™s welfare. I question the quality of our regional councillors. They should care more about issues such as health, education, clean water, access to electricity and staple food prices rather than fussing over how women should dress and what time they should go home.'€ Ruby Khalifah, coordinator of the movement, said Tuesday at a press conference.

She added that regional councilors often did not consult with the public in formulating the bylaws, ignoring scrutiny from the public simply because there was no communication between the government and the public.

Ruby also criticized councillors'€™ lack of initiative in drawing up bylaws.

'€œThe councils have a particular budget designed to help them formulate quality bylaws. But in practice, they merely copy bylaws from other regions, so the use of the budget is questionable,'€ she said.

Many of the bylaws passed by local councils have limited female freedom throughout Indonesia. Such bylaws included regulations that controlled what was or was not considered female decency in Aceh, Banten and West Sumatera.

For example, the Banda Aceh Municipality recently banned women working at tourist sites to work after 11 p.m. Tangerang bylaws on prostitution meanwhile had caused the arrest of women for prostitution simply because they walked home alone from work at night.

Nani Zulminarni, director of the Association of Women-Headed Households (PEKKA), said that such regulations reduced job choices and opportunities for women, and that this was especially damaging to those women who were the heads of households.

Others bylaws mandate an obligation for Muslim women to wear proper headscarves and Muslim long-wear in various places in Aceh, West Sumatera, Banten, West Java, Madura, South Sulawesi and West Nusa Tenggara.

'€œImagine if a farmer has to wear long Muslim wear in the field. This limits her work and makes her feel excluded from other women who are free from having to do so,'€ Nani said.

The activists also touched on Law No. 39/2004 on the protection of migrant workers. They believe that the law does not adequately protect female migrant workers when facing discrimination abroad.