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)