Activists decry abuse of women

JAKARTA (JP): Women activists decried yesterday increased violence against women this year and blamed it partly on Indonesia's ingrained patriarchal values.

Ita Fatia Nadia, Tati Krisnawaty and Nursyahbani Katjasungkana spoke of the difficulties in fighting violence against women in a society which considers men more important.

This situation persisted despite growing awareness of women's issues, they pointed out.

"Just notice how the society, especially law enforcers, are reluctant to interfere in domestic violence," Ita from Kalyanamitra said when announcing the findings of the organization's study into violations of women's rights. The announcement is to commemorate today being International Human Rights Day.

One of the findings was that 210 rapes were reported between January and November this year, up from 189 last year.

"Sadly enough, this is only early December," Ita said.

Of the 210 victims, 115 were aged between 6 and 15 years. The remaining 95 were between 15 and 20 years old.

The majority of the victims, 164, knew their attackers.

There were 34 reported cases of domestic violence against women, mostly uninterrupted by police who considered the disputes private.

"Apparently women cannot expect their safety to be guaranteed, not even in their homes," Ita said.

Tati Krisnawaty from Women's Solidarity called for special attention to the plight of women workers abroad who often suffered inhumane treatment from employers.

Tati cited women who died abroad from incidents, reportedly "work-related," whose families were not promptly notified. Some were told their daughters or wives had died abroad only a month later.

The official record for Indonesian women working overseas is 700,000, most of whom are employed as domestic helpers and know little of their legal rights.

Tati said various measures were needed to solve the problem at home including empowering women to counter "male hegemony in society."

She discussed the various possible ways, including fighting the many advertisements that depict women as inferior to men and link women to "domestic roles such as cooking, raising children and serving their husbands".

Several TV advertisements have been criticized for portraying women as sex objects. They include the commercial for the herbal medicine Idaman which claims it restores women's youthful sexual appeal so much that husbands stop going to "meetings" every night and stay home with their revitalized wives.

Nursyahbani, director of the Association of Indonesian Women for Justice, a legal aid office, said reform should be launched in various spheres, from the law and its enforcers to the public's attitude toward women. (06)