Women 'ready for VP' in five years<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): State Minister of Women's Roles Mien Sugandhi
\nsaid yesterday Indonesian women will be ready for the vice
\npresidency in the next five years.<\/p>\n
\"Now, there's no chance for women. But in the next four or
\nfive years, Insya Allah (God willing), we can have a female vice
\npresident. There's no need to be hasty now,\" she told journalists
\nduring a briefing at the Ministry of Information on the 69th
\nWomen's Day scheduled for Dec. 22.<\/p>\n
She blamed gender stereotypes, which portrayed women as
\nsimple-minded, incapable and weak, for hampering women from
\nassuming high ranking official posts such as mayors, governors
\nand vice president.<\/p>\n
She did not elaborate on why Indonesian women have to wait
\nfive years for the vice presidency. She also did not comment on
\nrecent calls for a female president.<\/p>\n
She recalled how once she had backed a woman for mayor. The
\ngovernor of the province, however, rejected her effort simply by
\nsaying: \"'Mam, the men in our province refuse to be led by a
\nwoman'.\"<\/p>\n
\"We have always had to nrimo (accept) what men say. We have to
\nfight this,\" she said, adding that women make up the majority in
\nthe country.<\/p>\n
Women constitute 50.3 percent of the total population of 200
\nmillion people.<\/p>\n
Mien said women should be empowered and their potential
\ndeveloped or else they would be a burden to national development.<\/p>\n
She praised Abdurrahman Wahid, the chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama
\n(NU), for his remark about the possibility of Siti Hardiyanti
\nRukmana, President Soeharto's eldest daughter, becoming a state
\nleader. Better known as Tutut, Hardiyanti is a Golkar leader and
\nan influential business tycoon.<\/p>\n
Abdurrahman had also mentioned Megawati Soekarnoputri, the
\ntoppled leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), as a
\npotential future state leader.<\/p>\n
\"We are proud of them, Mbak Tutut and Megawati (only the
\nlatter should not be seen in her capacity as) the former leader
\nof PDI ... but as a woman. We appreciate their struggle,\" she
\nsaid. (09)<\/p>",
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