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View all search resultsConstitutional Court wins praise for ruling on gender quota in House bodies
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Lawmakers attend a House of Representatives plenary session on July 1 at the Senayan legislative complex in Central Jakarta. (Antara/Dhemas Reviyanto)
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ctivists and female lawmakers have lauded a ruling from the Constitutional Court that requires the House of Representatives to have at least 30 percent female representation across all of its internal bodies, in hopes the decision will help improve the gender balance in the legislative structure.
Last Thursday, the court ruled in favor of women’s organizations the Indonesian Women’s Coalition, the Kalyanamitra and the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem), as well as constitutional law expert Titi Anggraini who challenged some provisions in the Legislative Institutions (MD3) that violated their right to fair representation.
Female lawmakers, the court said, have been unevenly distributed across the House’s bodies only to commissions handling social issues, child protection or women’s empowerment, while strategic areas such as the economy, law, energy and defense remain dominated by men.
This, the court said, was because the MD3 law did not mandate the minimum of 30 percent female representation despite other prevailing laws having already regulated such a gender quota. The Political Parties Law, for example, requires political parties to give their central executive board seats to female politicians.
“The absence of a provision requiring at least 30 percent female representation in leadership positions in House bodies is unconstitutional,” Justice Saldi Isra said while reading the ruling. “Conversely, a 30 percent formula will give legal certainty as it is measurable and actionable.”
The court ruled that 30 percent of members in all House bodies, from lawmaking commissions to ethics committees, must now be women, on the grounds that greater female representation will bring a gender perspective to lawmaking and enable women to collectively advocate for women’s rights across all areas of governance.
Read also: Civil society calls for more women representation in politics
