Female Cabinet ministers and women's perspective

Santi W.E. Soekanto, Jakarta

If president-elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono keeps his word, there could be as many as four women in his Cabinet; a ratio that he claims to be "fair" in a planned lineup of more than 30 ministers.

Certainly it would be futile at this point to raise questions about quotas or what constitutes a "fair" allotment. In fact, maybe we (women) should take offense because Susilo is implying that the four women will be there more because of his decision to be generous to the female population, who actually, as the Chinese saying goes, "Hold up half the sky."

Susilo may or may not select these women based on "merit". After all, this is payback time for those who supported his presidential bid. However, let us be generous and trust that Susilo is keeping his promise to appoint four "hardworking women with integrity and leadership qualities", and that this will be the reason he chooses them.

But these women should also have the dignity to balk should Susilo treat their appointments as merely another pat on the head to keep the little women quiet and occupied -- that was what Soeharto did repeatedly. Remember the series of forgettable women occupying the office of the state minister for women's affairs under previous regimes (except for, maybe, Khofifah Indar Parawansa), whom many Indonesian women could not identify with?

The women in Susilo's Cabinet must stand strong because they will be entrusted with fighting for the lives and welfare of 214 million Indonesians, both men and women. These women should also refuse to be pigeonholed in caring only about so-called "women's issues".

Take poverty, for instance. Various data centers tell us that Indonesia currently has 27 million people living below the poverty line, expounding on the matter by citing our (male) unemployment rate. But some 60 percent of the poor people are women, so of course poverty also has a woman's face.

Several years ago, the World Bank said Indonesia's economic recovery and long-term sustainability ultimately hinged on its ability to lift millions of people out of poverty. Studies have also shown that helping a female head of household often means lifting a whole family out of poverty. Therefore, the question of poverty alleviation is very much the question of empowering women so they can lift themselves and their families out of abject poverty.

It was only in 1998 that UNICEF described the approximately 30 million children under the age of 17 here as facing a "long-term emergency" because of malnutrition and a cessation of schooling. So poverty, too, has a child's face.

Take violence against women as another example. Thousands of women have been killed in various conflicts in Aceh, Poso, Ambon, Papua and other places. Sponsors of peace talks, however, have never bothered to ask women for their opinions and conflicts continue to flare up.

When it comes to the rights of girls, violence is not a woman's issue; it is an issue of the whole of humanity.

Reports abound, for instance, about parents being paid for the bonded services of their children, whether for domestic work, work in the commercial sex industry, or other hazardous work. NGO activists say there is an increased demand for ever-younger Indonesian sex and entertainment workers in Riau, Bali, nearby Singapore and Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan and Korea. Koalisi Perempuan, a woman's group, has estimated that as many as 150,000 Indonesian women and children are trafficked internationally each year.

Our new female ministers can probably take some inspiration from the upcoming United Nations General Assembly on the Status of the World's Women, in New York in March 2005. This "Beijing Plus Ten" meeting will assess countries' commitment to what were labeled 10 years ago at the Fourth World Conference on Women as the 12 critical areas of concern, which include the protection of women from violence, the advancement of women's power and decision-making capacities, and their economic well-being.

Susilo has vowed to revive the economy, retaining three teams of economists as well as a horde of freelance economic advisers who are raring to go and test their theories on how to alleviate some of the most severe economic problems -- including debt rescheduling, the low level of investment, the battered agricultural sector, as well as the need to fortify small and medium enterprises.

It is also important for our women ministers to hover on Susilo's shoulders. It is a "womanly thing" to do because our mothers, too, hovered when we were working on our sums. Never stand on the sidelines when your male counterparts are doing their work, such as establishing economic and fiscal policies, because there is simply nothing in the running of this country that will not affect the welfare of our female population.

The writer is a freelance journalist based in Depok. She can be reached at santi_soekanto2001@yahoo.com.