Don't forget motherhood role, Try advises career women

Don't forget motherhood role, Try advises career women

JAKARTA (JP): Vice President Try Sutrisno warned yesterday
that career-minded women with children should not abandon their
role as mothers.

As more and more women in Indonesia take up careers outside of
their homes, they must remember that they are destined to become
the mother in a household, Try said at a meeting to formulate
guidelines on the roles of today's women.

He noted that there is now a growing tendency for women,
particularly those in big cities, to entrust the household
chores, including child-rearing, to their servants.

Because of their preoccupation, some of them even lose
communication with their children, he said, adding that such a
situation could lead children to grow up wildly and with little
or no direction.

"This in the end will destroy their own future because they
are not getting the attention and love they should from their
parents," said Try.

The conference, which was opened at the Merdeka Selatan
palace, is being led by State Minister of Women's Roles Mien
Sugandhi with the participation of deputy governors, or their
representatives, from all 27 provincial administrations in
Indonesia.

The meeting hopes to formulate a program to enhance the role
of women in society but one that does not abandon their function
as mother and wife in a household, Try said.

The vice president said the nation fully endorses the concept
of "equal partnership" between men and women as well as equal
opportunities for the two sexes.

In this country, Try said, almost any position or job is open
to women "from Satpam (civil security guards) to cabinet
ministers". (emb)