'Femina' sets tone for continuity, change

Carla Bianpoen, Contributor, Jakarta

Fireworks will color the sky on Saturday night in jubilant celebration of Femina magazine's 30th anniversary. What a contrast to its humble beginnings in a garage! At that time, the magazine's founders shunned public appearances, as editors and field journalists condescendingly laughed at them in shock and disbelief.

No, Mirta Kartohadiprodjo, Widarti Gunawan and Atika Makarim were not aliens from another planet, as they may have been perceived at the time. They were just the first Indonesian women to introduce a magazine for women. In spite of their lack of experience, they were poised to move ahead, and excel.

As it turns out, they succeeded in carving a path into the mainstream of the prevailing culture in 1972, and gained increasing visibility and recognition without losing their cutting-edge dedication to offer women's perspectives to balance the general (male) view in a changing society.

Today nobody laughs at Femina. Outdoing any other magazine, Femina has stood tall for 30 consecutive years without ever having to succumb to anything close to closure. It has survived the worst economic crises and, when others had to close or disband, Femina's founders took the magazine to new heights with new publications under its wings. During the three decades of its existence, Femina has expanded to form a group of eight publications, with the ninth to see the light next week.

Although they may have been inspired by the feminist American magazine Ms, and learned from the popular Margriet and Libelle magazines for Dutch women, Femina's mission to improve the quality of life has never diverted from the Indonesian context.

As women who were aware of women's aspirations, the founders of Femina started addressing women's need to properly and adequately take on roles in a changing society.

Education, good housekeeping, good health and fashion were considered the main ingredients to start this empowerment, as they still are, as evidenced by the current editions of the magazine.

Both Mirta Kartohadiprodjo and Widarti Gunawan are of the opinion that these "ingredients" do matter. These are the basics that are re-interpreted and formulated to meet the changing needs, and accentuated separately or together according to what is required in a certain period of development.

Femina emerged at a time when the economy was blossoming but women's lives were drab, says Mirta Kartohadiprodjo, revealing that the desire to free women from the drabness of their daily lives was a major stimulation. Opening for women windows to a world stretching from the domestic domain to the world outside the home, the first 20,000 copies of the 44-page magazine sold out in no time.

Setting the tone, particularly for women in the middle class and above, Femina has been a trailblazer in advancing women's views and lives in a manner that avoids jeopardy while remaining consistent with its vision of a woman's place and dignity.

Femina has remained a primer that never loses touch with the changing needs in the wake of global trends and developments making inroads on the Indonesian scene. As a result, it has evolved, addressing specific needs in specialized magazines.

Ayah Bunda focuses on parenting, Gadis for girls, Seventeen for teens, Dewi Magazine for young female executives, FIT on health, the Tabloid Cita Cinta for single women between the ages of 20 and 25, and the upcoming Femina Pesona, which will cater to the needs of women who have reached the stage of reflection.

Interestingly, Femina, which boasts a 95 percent female staff, includes men in its overarching concern for human needs, with the publication of Men's Health.

Of course, like any other enterprise, Femina has had its ups, but also its downs. Retno Murti, who has been with the group for 20 years and is currently the editor in chief of the Femina Group's Dewi Magazine, reveals that at one time some young reporters resigned en-bloc, but the move failed to have an impact as everybody else went all-out to keep the magazine going.

There seems to be quite a number of staff members who can look back at 15 to 20 years of service at Femina. As a woman, they say, it's fun working among women. The atmosphere is that of a big family, allowing personal emergencies to take priority without reducing their holiday allowances, and they go home as early as 5 p.m., with options for flexible hours.

Such office hours, however, do not apply to Mirta Kartohadiprodjo, Widarti Gunawan and Pia Alisjahbana -- respectively the president, vice president and member of the board of directors of the Femina Group -- who are responsible for overseeing all aspects of the business, editorial content and the consistency in bringing the message of their basic views and overall policy in all the publications of the Femina Group. Banning advertisements for cigarettes and MSG (monosodium glutamate) from all their publications is an example.

Femina has become identical with Mirta, Pia and Widarti. But special mention and praise is also due Sofyan Alisjahbana, the man who has stood with them from the very beginning and was a rock to lean on in good times and in bad times.

As he has gradually retreated, and his daughter Svida has entered the team, the commemoration of 30 successful years of Femina certainly calls for reflection as to how Femina, and the publications under her umbrella, has been able to stand tall throughout the decades.

Evidently, keeping to the old-fashioned family way of interacting and intertwining without being outdated, has been a major asset and may be just the right model at this point in time. May Femina continue to climb to ever-higher heights.