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)