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True empowerment: Is the data adequate?
During the final presidential debate on April 13, both candidate pairs vowed to empower women to achieve economic equality
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span>During the final presidential debate on April 13, both candidate pairs vowed to empower women to achieve economic equality. Everybody praised hard-working women and called them the backbone of the family and even of the nation. They suggested microloans and better access to markets. These are indeed positive steps.
However, the question the candidates were asked to address mentioned that, according to the Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI), women’s labor force participation is only 51 percent, while 84 percent of the male population is employed. Also, the candidates were asked how they would reduce sexual discrimination in the workplace. The candidates did not address this part of the question.
The issues Indonesian women face are much more complex than anything that could be solved by microloans and better market access. Economic challenges women face include, first, low participation in the labor market. Another is the wage gap. A third is the skewed division of labor; women are held responsible for most work in and around the household. Further, at work women may face sexual harassment and intimidation, while on their way to and from their workplace, they also have to fear harassment and violence.
The National Commission on Violence Against Women has reported an increasing number of victims of such violence, especially domestic violence. Violence against women and girls happens daily. As a nation we have failed to fight rape culture while society, and men in particular, use various forms of violence against women and girls to discourage them from working or from leaving the house.
In her famous book Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape (1995), Susan Brownmiller defines rape culture as “the conscious process of intimidation by which all men keep all women in a state of fear”. This culture of fear is embedded in the legal system and sustained in patriarchal traditions.
Take the merariq (eloping) tradition in the Sasak culture of Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), where women and even girls always fear forced marriage. This tradition contributes to the high number of child marriages. When a case is reported, police often encourage the victims to marry their rapists to cover up the disgrace of their families and the whole society. The disgrace of the offender is turned into a disgrace for women and their families. The 2016 data from the Court Monitoring Society of the University of Indonesia (MAPPI UI) and the Legal Aid Foundation of Indonesian Women’s Association for Justice (LBH APIK) also revealed gender bias by courts in sexual violence cases.
Victims of sexual violence and even of rape often face stigma or are blamed for their attire or for going out alone. Another case indicating injustice against working women is that of honorary teacher Baiq Nuril, also from Lombok. She complained about sexual harassment by the school principal. When the recording she made of one of the intimidating conversations with him was spread all over town, the principal reported her to the police for defamation. When the case ended up at the Supreme Court she was sentenced to a hefty fine and 6 months of imprisonment. So the alleged harasser walks free and the reported victim is imprisoned and fined. Such cases underline the urgent need for a broad definition of sexual violence with an approach stressing prevention and rehabilitation, beyond what exists in the Criminal Code.
How should we tackle these issues?
First, we need sufficient data to chart women’s problems and design adequate policies. Note that the question asked to the presidential candidates rested on data from the World Economic Forum and not from national sources.
When we designed the APIK Gender Justice Index (AGJI), and particularly the quantitative Gender Status Index, we faced similar problems. Our philosophy is that sex-disaggregated data must be readily available, reliable and comprehensive. Data to address the gender gap should be computed at subnational levels, where they can be directly used by policymakers and NGOs. We tested this index in seven provinces — Papua, NTB, North Sumatra, Jakarta, Central Java, South and Central Sulawesi.
Unfortunately, sex-disaggregated data is unavailable regarding income. Most provinces had reached gender parity in health and education up to tertiary level, or are close to reaching that level.
So the significant gaps in the employment rate and income between women and men cannot be explained by discrimination regarding health or education. The data produced an aggregate outcome very close to that of the GGGI, so both indices are comparable.
Where then should we look to understand how best to empower women? The most visible indicator of the gender gap is that of political power. This index uses nine variables, ranging from representatives in regional councils to village leaders and includes judges in national and local religious courts and prosecutors. Except for Jakarta, the share of women in these positions ranges between almost 26 percent (Central Sulawesi) and Papua (just over 9 percent). Clearly, men reserve most positions of power for themselves.
The second part of the AGJI, the Women’s Progress Measure, contains qualitative data and data specific for women. These include the maternal mortality rate (MMR), female genital mutilation (FGM) and issues related to the Marriage Law and implementation of the Domestic Violence Law. Exact figures on Indonesia’s high MMR, which causes preventable deaths of thousands of women yearly, were hardly available. How can Indonesia save the lives of these young women without even reliable data?
On child marriages, 23 percent of all marriages contracted concern underage girls according to the 2015 data of Statistics Indonesia (BPS). These girls typically drop out from school, having children at a very young age, a major hindrance to enter the labor market. In ASEAN, Indonesia ranks second after Cambodia regarding child marriage.
Lack of political power, women’s double burden, domestic violence and sexual harassment in the workplace as well as early marriage all affect women’s position in the labor market and in the home, as well as their income.
Microloans and better access to markets are clearly insufficient to tackle these huge and complex problems. A first step should be to collect the data needed to map out these issues.
Sex-disaggregated data should be collected for income in the formal and the informal sector and in all aspects of government services. Time use surveys should be held to determine the extent of the double burden, and reliable data should be collected on MMR, FGM, early marriage and the prevalence of sexual harassment and violence.
Fortunately Indonesia’s Ombudsman has insisted that sex-disaggregated data be collected for public service. Whichever team wins the presidential election must understand the need to provide reliable and comprehensive data.
Systematic efforts to eliminate the culture of discrimination and violence against women as mandated by the Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women, which Indonesia has ratified, are also urgent. The sexual violence bill should also be passed as soon as possible.
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Nursyahbani Katjasungkana is national coordinator of the Association of Indonesian Women for Justice (APIK). Saskia E. Wieringa is professor at the University of Amsterdam.
