Sitting on the floor of the house that was covered merely by a mat, the residents solemnly listened to a speech delivered by their village head.

“May her family be given the strength to get through their loss,” the village head said.

It’s not uncommon for village leaders to attend and even speak at such an occasion, except the Pandeyan village head is a 41-year-old woman named Yuli Lestari, who is also a kindergarten teacher.

A female leader is still uncommon in Yogyakarta. Even Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, the leader of the customary sultanate that rules the province, has drawn the ire of the royal family for naming his daughter, Ratu Mangkubumi, his successor as a sultan and governor. In an Islamic sultanate, a leader is traditionally an imam and only male heirs are favored.

Yuli has had to face the same controversy as the sultan’s daughter.

Ahead of her inauguration as village head last week, a group of residents held a protest at the Bangunharjo subdistrict office. They claimed that Yuli was not capable of leading the village because she was a woman.

In a letter addressed to the district head signed by residents, the protesters wrote: “If the village head is a woman, she will not be capable of doing her job. For example, it would be difficult to reach her if something happened in the middle of the night. Female leaders in other villages have also received similar complaints.”

Unfazed by the protest, the subdistrict administration, which chose Yuli out of six contenders, carried on with her inauguration.

“I’m not violating any laws,” she said.

Yuli said she had gone through several tests: psychological test, interviews, as well as speech and IT tests. She beat the other five candidates, all of whom were men.

“I was elected as the village head because I scored the highest in the selection process,” she added.

She dismissed claims of her ineptitude as a leader, saying that coordination with the residents did not need to be done over cups of evening coffee — a common way among men in villages — and could rather be done through village meetings.

The teacher expressed hopes of improving the village’s quality education, as many residents are elementary school and junior high school graduates.

Not all residents are against having her as village head. Yuli said she believed a failing candidate was behind the group of protesters.

A female resident who refused to be named said she did not mind having Yuli as village head, especially as she frequently attended gatherings such as for the Empowerment of Family Prosperity (PKK).

“She is capable of leading the village; I don’t see it as a problem,” she said.

Another resident, Suyadi, said that residents did not mind having a woman as their leader.

“Yuli is a capable leader, there’s nothing wrong with it,” he said.

Yogyakarta Women Empowerment Agency official Nelly Tristiana suggested that Yuli proceed with her responsibilities as village while not minding her critics, but she should also try to reach out to them.

“Yuli has to prove that women are capable of being a good leader as opposed to catering to the worries of her protesters,” she said.

Nelly said both men and women had the same rights to be a leader.

A gender expert of the Gadjah Mada University (UGM) in Yogyakarta, Muhajir Darwin, deplored the protest, which he referred to as a setback because Indonesia had seen female leaders and women filling top seats as president, governor and regent.

“The protest is an embodiment of patriarchal values, which have been creeping up in Yogyakarta and are expressed in such an unrefined way,” he said.

He attributed the protest to rising conservatism in society, adding that the regional administration should pay serious attention to the issue.

Popular

Volcano erupts in North Sulawesi, hundreds evacuated

Dubai roads, airport reel from floods after record rains

Ramadan boosts consumer confidence, retail sales