Gaspol Today: Sexual Violence on Campus, Where is the Safe Space for Women?

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Rieke Diah Pitaloka, a member of Commission XIII of the Indonesian House of Representatives, speaks about women’s struggle to speak out and appear in public spaces as they do today. According to her, this is the result of long, hard work by the nation’s predecessors. Consider RA Kartini, Dewi Sartika, and women’s organisations that realised the holding of the Indonesian Women’s Congress in 1928. “The long road for women to be in public spaces, women in political spaces, women to speak out,” said Rieke in the Gaspol! podcast aired on Kompas.com’s YouTube channel on Tuesday (21/4/2026). However, despite all that effort, cases of sexual violence against women continue to occur and even thrive, including in educational environments. More severely, sexual violence is often downplayed and even considered normal. “When people already consider sexual crimes as something normal, then other crimes, whether corruption or whatever, are no longer considered,” stated Rieke. Therefore, the PDI Perjuangan politician said that women’s struggle is still long, including to be free from the threat of sexual violence. “This is an issue for men and women to join hands in building a better societal, national, and state system,” said Rieke. Watch the full conversation in the Gaspol! podcast, which premieres today at 20.30 WIB.