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Kartini’s month of elections and Cinderella’s stepsisters
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Illustration of women in politics. (Shutterstock/rudall30)
A
pril — Kartini Month — is always a perfect moment to reflect on how far we have been progressing in women’s emancipation.
The 2018 Global Gender Gap Report reveals how Indonesia has performed among 148 countries in four main indicators: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment.
Overall we still rank far down the list in 85th place. We have actually narrowed economic and political gaps, but performed poorly in educational attainment.
Yet, even in the areas where we scored better than in previous years, are we really on the right track to close the gender gaps and achieve equality?
The latest general election on Wednesday makes this year’s commemoration of the birthday of the heroine Kartini worth getting closer attention.
What women do in politics may not fully represent women’s lives in general, but observing how women’s issues take up very little space during the election campaigns should be seen as a serious warning for us who put much hope in women’s emancipation as one of the crucial forces to improve our society.
During the campaign rallies, women appeared mostly in the background — as part of the cheering crowd considered too politically illiterate to be given a more substantial role on center stage.
