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From farmers to dentists, women of all stripes unite for Women’s Awakening Day
About 200 women from all walks of life, including young professionals, laborers, domestic workers and breastfeeding mothers, gathered to protest on Sunday in conjunction with the commemoration of the first Indonesian Women's Congress held in 1928, demanding the state fulfill women's rights.
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Women from all stripes take to the streets during the Perempuan Meruwat Negeri (Women Heal the Nation) rally in Central Jakarta on Sunday. The rally was held to reclaim Dec. 22 as women's awakening day instead of Mother's day as declared by first president Soekarno. (JP/Donny Fernando)
“Women rise, women seek justice!” went the chant that was repeated throughout the Perempuan Meruwat Negeri (Women Heal the Nation) demonstration in Central Jakarta on Sunday.
About 200 women from all walks of life, including young professionals, laborers, domestic workers and breastfeeding mothers, gathered at the Arjuna Wiwaha Statue (Horse Statue) and marched toward Aspiration Park near the Presidential Palace compound.
The date, Dec. 22, was chosen as it was the anniversary of the first Indonesian Women’s Congress, which was held in 1928 and advocated for girls’ education and ending child marriage. The day was officially declared as Mothers’ Day by then-president Soekarno in 1958 and has since been identified more with women’s role as mothers rather than the women’s rights movement.
“The congress spoke about many problems that women faced, such as violence against women, women’s lack of access to education and the lack of access to many other things. That was in 1928 and now it’s 2019 and we still face the same problems,” Valentina Sagala, spokesperson of the Women Rise Alliance that organized the demonstration, told protesters at the Aspiration Park. “We, the women of Indonesia have gathered here today to call on the state to really be present to fulfill our rights as women.”
The demands and motivations of the protesters were many and wide-ranging, as would be expected given their diverse backgrounds.
Dea Safira, a 27-year-old dentist and a co-founder of the Indonesia Feminis community, said that she and members of the Seni Berlawan Perempuan (SBP) collective joined the demonstration because they wanted to reclaim Mother’s Day for the women’s movement.
“This is really Women’s Day, but it has been co-opted to become Mothers’ Day by the New Order so we want to change this perception,” Dea told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of the demonstration. “We want to let people know that women have held congresses since a long time ago and from that time the demands haven’t really changed, but the state never listens.”
