Mayling breaks the gender ceiling<\/p>\n
Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Once in a while, you interview people who say so little that
\nyou have to dig deeper and deeper to make them open up. Other
\ntimes, you've got to put up with babblers who just can't stop
\ntalking nonsense.<\/p>\n
In between, you're lucky to meet people like Mayling Oey-
\nGardiner. She answers each question thoroughly and in structured
\nsentences, which is no wonder as she is a researcher with
\nexpertise in the area of economic demography. She was not
\nlecturing, although she teaches at the University of Indonesia's
\n(UI) School of Economics.<\/p>\n
Most importantly, she is a warm woman who laughs a lot, even
\nwhen talking serious stuff, and is an inspiration to her much
\nyounger peers.<\/p>\n
Still stylish at 61, wearing ethnic earrings and her gray hair
\ncropped short, Mayling holds at least two "first" titles.<\/p>\n
She was the first female senior lecturer in the School of
\nEconomics at UI and she became the first female professor in the
\nschool last October.<\/p>\n
Her career has been built on an impressive educational
\nbackground (she was among the first Indonesian women to obtain a
\nmaster's degree from Harvard) and achievements.<\/p>\n
But, it begs the question, why is she the exception of her sex
\nin breaking through the gender ceiling?<\/p>\n
"It is such a good question that nobody wants to answer,"
\nMayling said.<\/p>\n
"My colleagues said that I deserve it. But why I did I have to
\nwait until I deserved it? Not all of my male colleagues deserved
\nit. But why is it so difficult for a woman to reach higher
\nposition?"<\/p>\n
Things are not transparent, she added, and there's always an
\nexcuse for keeping women back.<\/p>\n
"I mean, some of my (male) colleagues don't have the results
\nof research but they made it to be senior lecturers. That's
\nbecause there are many more men, and they support each other."<\/p>\n
The opportunity to get an education abroad for women is also
\nlimited.<\/p>\n
"They always say it will be a loss because some women got
\nmarried and didn't come back. Why generalize? Many also returned
\nand taught again," she said.<\/p>\n
"While many men did come back but never returned to the
\nuniversity, but worked in other institutions instead. The loss is
\nbigger, I think, because the university still pays them."<\/p>\n
Another excuse, Mayling asserted, is that women are needed by
\ntheir family.<\/p>\n
"It's their business, not the school. Men are also needed
\nby their family. This kind of problem happens in other schools as
\nwell, but it's easier in one place than another."<\/p>\n
Mayling is a women's right activist and gender sensitive
\neconomist, which she said is not popular among economists.<\/p>\n
She has done much research, written articles and books, worked
\nas a consultant for international and regional organizations, all
\nfor things related to gender issues. She is also the founder or
\nmember of several women's organization, like Suara Ibu Peduli
\n(The Voice of Concerned Mother\/SIP) and Perempuan PeKa (Women for
\nPeace and Justice).<\/p>\n
Her inauguration as professor was marked by a speech,
\nappropriately titled "Breaking the glass ceiling: slow, but
\nunavoidable", discussing discrimination against Indonesian women.<\/p>\n
Mayling was born in Sukabumi, West Java, but grew up in
\nJakarta. After graduating from St. Ursula senior high school in
\n1959, she worked as a clerk in the university where she is now a
\nprofessor.<\/p>\n
"Funny thing is, I've never studied at UI all my life," said
\nMayling.<\/p>\n
The Ford Foundation, which funded a project at the school,
\noffered her a scholarship to study in the United States where she
\nmajored in sociology.<\/p>\n
"I had no idea what sociology is. Somebody advised me to take
\nit, and it turned out I like it," she said, laughing.<\/p>\n
In 1971, Mayling returned to her homeland, and worked at the
\nIndonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) and UI's Demography
\nInstitute. At the time, there was considerable research on
\ndemography and the country received the biggest grants and loans
\nin the world for projects on population problems.<\/p>\n
A year later, she received another scholarship from Harvard's
\nSchool of Public Health on population. Upon her return home, she
\nreceived another scholarship, this time to the Australian
\nNational University (ANU) where she met her husband, American
\nPeter Gardiner.<\/p>\n
"It was funny, because I didn't plan to get marry, let alone
\nhave children. I mean, what am I going do with children? When I
\nfinally got one, everybody laughed," said Mayling, who was
\nmarried at 41 and gave birth to her only son, Conrad Trisna
\nGardiner, three years later.<\/p>\n
Mayling said that it was not easy for her to find a partner,
\ngiven her high educational background.<\/p>\n
"Harvard was a very snobbish place. Socially, it was cold.
\nWhen I got back home, it was too much for men to hear that I have
\na master's degree, and from Harvard," she said.<\/p>\n
"Sad thing is, I scared away women, too. While it's important
\nfor me to have them (women friends) because there are things that
\nwe can't share with men. So, I was very lonely back then."<\/p>\n
Mayling is grateful because the world has changed a lot now,
\neven though discrimination against women still exists. That is
\nwhy she is among the activists who demand a quota for women in
\nthe government, an idea that even many women oppose, saying that
\nwomen should achieve their position by their own efforts.<\/p>\n
"Successful women always think that if they can do it, anybody
\ncan do it. Hell, they forget that they have privilege, whatever
\nthat is. They say that women legislators never speak, but that's
\nbecause media never quote them. Why for women do there have to be
\ncertain conditions? Whose conditions? What conditions? Men are
\nas hopeless!" Mayling said.<\/p>\n
"SIP consists of housewives and look at them now. Aren't they
\nqualified to be legislators? Who are we to decide who has the
\nright?"<\/p>\n
Before I left after our two-hour interview, she showed me her
\nhumorous side again. She introduced me to her husband. They both
\nthen argued about who should go to Bank Indonesia, calling it a
\nden of thieves, before bursting into shared laughter.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/mayling-breaks-the-gender-ceiling-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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