Hopes of female police cadets get a boost

JAKARTA (JP): The fight for gender equality in the military and the police has gotten a big boost from a reported pledge by National Police Chief Lt. Gen. Rusdihardjo to support the entry of female cadets into the police academy.

Irawati Harsono, a lecturer at the academy, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday that female cadets may be accepted at the police academy in Semarang, Central Java, in the coming academic year.

"The National Police Chief has approved the plan and prepared the facilities for female students in the academy," the retired police colonel said on the sidelines of a regional workshop on domestic violence against women which was organized by the Asia Foundation.

The issue of gender equality in the ranks of the police force has risen to the fore in the past few years.

The military's three academies -- Army, Navy and Air Force -- along with the police academy have never admitted female cadets. Existing female officers in all the forces were recruited directly into service and not trained in academies.

The acceptance of women in these academies would go a long way toward boosting the emancipation of Indonesian women and opening the door to them for higher ranks in the military as most top posts are filled by those with academy credentials.

Plans to begin accepting women in the academy have been sidetracked in the past year by domestic political events and the official separation of the police from the Armed Forces.

In 1998, National Police Academy Governor Maj. Gen. Pamudji said that 100 female students would be accepted in the 1999/2000 academic year. Special barracks for women were being prepared, separating them from male quarters.

Irawati on Thursday cited the lack of facilities for women and the psychological resistance of male cadets as impediments to the entry of women in the academy.

"The decision (to admit women) came in the midst of hesitancy from some male officers," she added.

So far only five women have made it to the rank of general in the police force. There are no female generals in the military.

Irawati claimed that the psychological culture prevailing in the police force relegates women to subordinate roles, while many male officers refuse to be led by women.

"Our female generals had to prove that they were 10 times better than their fellow male officers," she remarked.

Improvements are being made, albeit slowly.

Irawati pointed out that since 1998 the police academy has included a curriculum on gender sensitivity and human rights.

As of last year, police precincts in four provinces -- Jakarta, Yogyakarta, East Java and Bali -- were required to have a policewomen assigned to the gender-sensitive cases.

Irawati asserted that the acceptance of women into the National Police Academy was an important step in acknowledging women's rights within the force.

In a related development, a special crisis center for battered women will be officially opened at Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital here on March 8.

The center is a pilot project for similar hospital-based crisis centers due to be opened across the country.

"We have the full support of the hospital's forensic and obstetric gynecology team along with the police and the ministry of health," said the vice chairperson of the national commission on human rights, Saparinah Sadli.

The crisis center will provide around-the-clock services for raped and abused women.

"There will be on-call doctors and policewomen to receive the cases," she added. (04)