Dharma Wanita of limited use: Members

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)