Government to teach gender matters to provincial officials
Government to teach gender matters to provincial officials
JAKARTA (JP): The government will spend Rp 8.75 billion
(US$1.25 million) in the next nine months to educate provincial
officials and legislators about gender sensitivity.
Discourses on gender issues will be held for government
officials and legislators in 13 provinces, while another three
provinces will hold lectures only for government officials.
"With the training, we expect that decision makers in the
future will include gender issues as one of their
considerations," State Minister of the Empowerment of Women
Khofifah Indar Parawansa said on Wednesday.
During a hearing with House of Representatives Commission VI
on human resources and religion, Khofifah said her office was
awaiting a final presidential decree on a common basis for the
training.
The training, expected to consist of daily 1.5 hour lectures
held over several days, will explore gender awareness theory
followed by analysis of the gender sensitivity of various
regulations.
"For example, the marriage law, regulations on female laborers
and the export of maids are issues which somehow do not show
gender considerations," Khofifah said in a written statement for
the hearing.
The move to prioritize an understanding of gender issues among
regional officials is in anticipation of the implementation of
Law No. 22/1999 on regional autonomy.
Khofifah said that once the law was fully implemented, most
decisions would be taken by provincial administrations and thus
priority on heightening awareness of gender issues should be
focused on officials in the regions.
She added that budget constraints forced the ministry to
prioritize provinces, based on their size and population, for the
training.
"In the current budget, we can only fund 13 provinces, but we
will continue the training in the next fiscal year to reach all
provinces." She added that the training would commence
immediately after the House approved the 2000 state budget.
Khofifah also revealed on Wednesday that the government had
set up a women's bureau in regional administrative offices in 10
provinces. Another three provinces are expected to follow suit in
March.
The provinces are Aceh, Jambi, Lampung, South Sumatra, East
and West Nusa Tenggara, Southeast and South Sulawesi, along with
Maluku and North Maluku.
Central Kalimantan, North and South Sulawesi are expected to
establish bureaus next month.
"My office is still dealing with a lot of red tape in regional
administrations in trying to set up bureaus in other provinces,"
she said. (04)