Dharma Wanita of limited use: Members

JAKARTA (JP): Since 1974, millions of Indonesian women have grudgingly joined Dharma Wanita simply because their husbands were government officials.

Government institutions including ministries, state-owned companies, state banks, state universities and even foreign oil companies which signed production-sharing agreements with state- owned oil company Pertamina must have Dharma Wanita units to accommodate the wives of their employees.

A number of Dharma Wanita members and ex-members share their views in the following excerpts:

Mienarsih Fauzi, wife of an employee of a foreign oil company: It is really ridiculous for a foreign company to set up Dharma Wanita only because it has signed a production-sharing deal with a government institution.

In my husband's office, and maybe in many other foreign oil companies, Dharma Wanita organizations have stopped operating since president Soeharto stepped down in May 1998.

As an executive at an insurance company, I do not have enough time to take part in Dharma Wanita activities.

I joined some of its constructive programs like Koran recitals, seminars, social and education activities.

Dharma Wanita is a product of the New Order regime, now we are expecting a reform government which hopefully will come out with bright and fresh ideas.

It is high time that all the old forms of organizations, including Dharma Wanita, were disbanded for the good of Indonesian women.

Ratnasari Stephanus, wife of an official at state Bank Exim: My activities do not influence my husband's career. For me, being a member of Dharma Wanita is a little tiring and burdensome.

I live quite far from the city center and I don't have a car. I have to take public transportation into the city to attend a gathering at the Dharma Wanita office.

As a member of the organization, I had to buy a uniform and spend money for various activities. Dharma Wanita is only suitable for rich wives who do not have to think about spending extra money and extra time.

But by belonging to Dharma Wanita I meet a lot of friends, that is probably the only benefit I have gained from the organization.

Marlina, not her real name, head of a Dharma Wanita unit at a state-owned mining company.

I face difficulties in managing the Dharma Wanita unit in my husband's office because its headquarters is on Sumatra island while we live in Jakarta.

A large number of Dharma Wanita members in that office are working mothers who have their own businesses. In my opinion, some activities are good, but many also require plenty of time and energy.

In the past, we arranged various activities like family and self-improvement programs. We also held courses on catering, fashion design, health, etc.

Now, in the reform era, we don't have many programs. We are even afraid to wear Dharma Wanita uniforms in public. People consider Dharma Wanita a part of the Golkar Party. Its uniform is also regarded as a Golkar attribute, like a yellow flag with a banyan tree.

The best thing to do now is to suspend the organization's activities and wait until a new government is formed.

Carla Bianpoen, former head of the Dharma Wanita unit of the city administration's Center for Urban and Environmental Development: Principally, Dharma Wanita violates women's rights as individuals because women are placed as supporters of their spouses.

I've also heard many sour comments about Dharma Wanita, such as it is an organization in which there is much gossiping and wasting time and money. Or many chairwomen of Dharma units are so bossy and have more power than their husbands.

In a way, people's charges are partly right. But for me, it all depends on us and our husbands.

Since the very beginning, my husband told members of Dharma Wanita in his office unit that their activities in the organization would not have an affect on their husbands' working performances or promotion.

I encouraged Dharma Wanita members to participate in the planned activities, but it was not obligatory.

Many of them were young mothers who had babies and under-five- year-old children. I never insisted they participate in activities if they could not manage it. I was fortunate when I chaired this organization, my kids were already grown up and I had a plenty of time.

Based on my own experience, Dharma Wanita has some positive points, especially for young and inexperience housewives who need to realize their self-worth.

It is important for housewives, especially those who do not work outside the home, to meet other people, to attend useful meetings. If they do not have such an opportunity, I am pretty sure their lives will be stressful. That would, of course, affect their family lives.

A wives organization is useful and yet it does need not to be centralized on a national-level like Dharma Wanita, which eventually grew into a tool of the government to help it reach its goals. (raw)