It was initiated by female factory workers, supported by labor union and feminist activists, who teamed up to struggle for the rights of women as workers. They fought for decent pay, safe working conditions, and women’s political right to have a voice in parliament. They demanded the right to vote and to run for parliament, so that the interests of female workers would be voiced and heard.

In the context of “work”, the phrase “choose to challenge” as the theme of this year’s IWD is fundamental for women. In the culture of Indonesia, if analyzed in gender terms, the phrase has different connotations for women than for men, unlike in the West. For example, for Indonesian women, “choose to challenge” suggests an attitude of rebellion or resistance, while for men it implies sportsmanship, masculinity and chivalry.

It is essential to analyze the politics of language in order to understand the meaning behind the language. This is because language is a means of human communication that contains messages. In fact, language is not neutral in terms of gender or social class. One element that is used to construct and interpret the messages behind any expression is religious views.

For women, the courage to challenge entails two different challenges. First, challenging yourself to have the courage to face things that impede you. Some of these obstacles come from within, such as fear, reluctance, lack of ambition and so on. As for the external challenges, women feel that the outside world is unfair to them, and women need to fight against this.

Because there are challenges from outside them, women need to have the courage to resist.

“Choose to challenge” is clearly an arena of contestation for women to obtain their rights as humans, as women, as daughters, as wives, as working women, and in other roles in society.

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