The sexual violence bill, initiated in 2016, has stalled despite an increase in the number of cases of violence against women to 406,178 in 2018 from 348,446 in 2017, according to the annual report of the National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan). Sexual violence accounted for 76 percent of these cases, with 71 percent of them occurring in domestic settings.

"The problem is that we don't have legislation to prevent violence cases. To protect women from violence, more women need to take part in the policy-making process," Komnas Perempuan commissioner Adriana Venny said during a panel discussion in Jakarta recently.

She attributed the stalling of the sexual violence bill to the "male-dominated and patriarchal" legislature, which fails to understand the importance of such legislation for women.

"Women remain underrepresented in the legislature despite the 30 percent mandatory quota. The 30 percent is a 'sacred' figure because according to the United Nations, only by reaching that figure can women influence policy-making processes," Adriana said.

Indonesia's electoral law requires that all political parties field 30 percent of women among their candidates in each electoral district, or face disqualification. It also stipulates the zipper system, in which political parties must include at least one female candidate for every three nominated candidates on each party's list.

However, to meet this minimum quota, political parties have scrambled to recruit women candidates, with some of them resorting to family members. Researchers have pointed out that almost 40 percent of women candidates are related to existing figures in political parties and administrations.

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