Gadis lets women speak for themselves

Gadis lets women speak for themselves

By Mehru Jaffer

JAKARTA (JP): There is much more to Kartini than her kebaya or
her neat hairdo, feels Gadis Arivia, editor of Jurnal Perempuan,
the country's first feminist journal.

Also director of the Media Foundation for Women, 36-year-old
Arivia hopes that Kartini Day observed on Saturday will
eventually be known as Women's Day, in celebration of all those
other women who are also pioneers in their own right in trying to
rid society of injustices.

When Arivia talks of Kartini, she does not evoke memories of a
well-dressed aristocratic Javanese who was an obedient mother and
wife. She imagines Kartini as an amazing young woman who was
unafraid to think for herself. A woman who could be so critical
and progressive even a hundred years ago.

"It is the thoughts of Kartini that have to be talked
about today and not the way Kartini dressed or looked," Arivia
told The Jakarta Post at the Tebet Barat office of Yayasan Jurnal
Perempuan, where a staff of about 22 young people are busy
practicing gender-sensitive journalism.

Apart from the journal, a radio show is compiled each week
covering news about women and publications that highlight state
violence against women, or the trauma and healing of domestic
and political violence.

The idea is to eventually increase the representation of women
in the media and to use the media to raise the consciousness of
women regarding their rights as women and citizens. The hope is
that approaching the world from the point of view of women may
prove to be a good enough basis for transforming society.

Yayasan Jurnal Perempuan along with the Dutch embassy launced
Fitriyanti's book on women's education pioneer Siti Roehana
Koedus on Saturday.

Arivia is rather exceptional herself. Daughter of a diplomat,
Arivia was born in India. She traveled with the family on
postings to Africa, Europe and the United States. But after high
school when she was 16 years old, her mother sent her back to
Jakarta to touch base with her own country and people.

By this time Arivia was already familiar with the French
author Simone de Beauvoir.

"At that time I did not understand why this wonderful woman
writer was against marriage. I had no clue about gender issues.
It was difficult for me to understand what was said in The Second
Sex (a book by Simone). But I did wonder why so many men are
philosophers and Simone the only woman," says Arivia, who
enrolled for a three-year course in French studies at the
University of Indonesia.

When she visited the French Embassy here to ask for a
scholarship, she was told that Indonesia sent students of
engineering to France but never to study philosophy.

In a conversation with the then French ambassador, she recalls
saying that perhaps it was not enough to just build a bridge as
it was also necessary to be able to understand why a bridge
needed to be built. That kind of talk is what she suspects
finally got her a scholarship to study post-modern philosophy in
Paris where she spent two years, as if in heaven.

She had already started to write on women's issues. But it was
all theory up to then. It was only in February 1998 when the
economic crisis caused the price of baby milk to increase 400
percent that Arivia came face to face with reality and she joined
other non-governmental organizations to protest on behalf of
concerned mothers.

Arivia is one of the brains behind the "politics of
milk" or Suara Ibu Peduli (SIP), when women activists took to the
streets. Their actions eventually helped the historic reform
movement to succeed in forcing president Suharto to resign after
32 years in office.

She has now returned to where she really belongs, in the
editorial office of Jurnal Perempuan. It was not very long ago
when Arivia, professor of philosophy at the University of
Indonesia (she teaches the theory of feminism), realized that
literature on women here was scarce. That thought gave birth to
Jurnal Perempuan, at first in the form of a newsletter.

Feeling good

The topics covered do not focus on looking physically good but
instead on feeling good with one's whole being. The concerns of
Jurnal Perempuan, for example, are not limited to having
beautiful breasts but healthy ones.

From 200 copies in 1996, over 5000 copies of the journal are
published now, targeting mainly middle- and upper-middle class
women. Since radio is a medium that reaches out to most people,
especially those in the countryside, a women's radio program with
special reports and discussions was started two years ago for
those who are unable or who cannot afford to read.

As executive producer with the radio station, Arivia bought
herself a yuppie blazer and went from office to office, trying to
sell her program on reproductive rights and maternal mortality.
None, at first, wanted to touch these topics; they were
interested in ones about how to look 20 at the age of 40.

One station finally agreed to air the program at a fee of Rp
1.5 million for every two stories, each 20 minutes in length.

Yayasan Jurnal Perempuan paid for about a year and then ran
out of money. But, by then the radio station had realized how
popular the series was. Since then professionals have helped
Radio Jurnal Perempuan to make the broadcasts more lively and
entertaining, and today it is aired on 106 stations.

It was difficult to get women from the countryside to speak
about themselves at the beginning. When asked questions, the
women would giggle and point to their husband to answer on their
behalf. But the reporters are in the habit of coaxing them gently
after staying in the huts overnight, sharing meals and jokes and
spending time familiarizing the women with the microphone.

"Eventually when we listen to the interviews in the studio we
are so impressed with the strength and power of the answers of
these unworldly women," says Arivia.

The mother of two, whose six-year-old daughter takes taekwondo
and soccer lessons and three-year-old son dancing and cooking,
laughs heartily as she counts the numerous programs full of sex
and violence that are already aired on television.

But she is not disappointed. Over the years she has seen so
many wonderful changes take place that she is convinced life is
worth it if one looks ahead, especially for women in the country.