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New Maternal & Child Welfare Law could widen inequity: Komnas Perempuan
Komnas Perempuan has hailed the Maternal and Child Law's passage as an achievement, but also raised concerns that it could widen inequality between women in the formal and informal sectors, as well as perpetuate gender norms.
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A woman carries her infant on May 18, 2024 beside an emergency tent in Gam Ici village sheltering people who fled the Mount Ibu eruption in West Halmahera regency, North Maluku. (Antara/Andri Saputra)
T
he House of Representatives has passed the maternal and child welfare bill, legislation that observers have deemed a valiant effort in improving conditions for working mothers and fathers, but one that could also widen welfare inequity and perpetuate gender norms, according to the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan).
During a plenary session on Tuesday, led by House Speaker Puan Maharani of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), all nine factions moved to pass the bill into law without any significant objections.
The legislation aimed to streamline existing regulations on parents and children, while also helping to curb persistent issues such as maternal and infant mortality as well as childhood stunting, said Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Minister I Gusti Ayu Bintang Darmawati.
“This law is a concrete manifestation of the state’s presence in improving the welfare of mothers and children, so we can all bring about better generations for the nation’s future together,” Bintang said in her remarks following the bill’s passage on June 4, which marked the end of a lengthy deliberation that started in June 2022.
The draft law was initially geared to regulate all facets of the lives of expectant women and infants, from conception to adolescence.
Through the course of the deliberations, however, lawmakers and the government agreed to change the bill’s focus on improving the welfare of expectant parents and infants during the first 1,000 days of life, or roughly until the age of 2 years.
Read also: New law paves way for longer maternity leave
