JP/2/women
JP/2/women
Pride and prejudice concerning women's roles
JAKARTA (JP): Nurturing the home and family is not the natural
and sole responsibility of women, said a high level official of
the State Ministry for Women's Roles on Saturday.
"There are only four natural traits (kodrat) of women," said
Syamsiah Achmad, speaking for Minister Mien Sugandhi at a
discussion on women's roles at the private Atmajaya University in
Central Jakarta.
"These are menstruation, pregnancy, delivery and
breast-feeding. Bottle-feeding and everything else can be done by
men," the assistant to the Minister said.
She also cited surveys showing that working women carry the
bulk of responsibilities in the family apart from what they have
to do at work.
Syamsiah pointed at the Ministry itself as an example of the
difficulties in changing "human-made, not God-given perceptions."
"Many of the women employees outside Jakarta cannot come to
our four-month training sessions because they cannot leave their
families that long. This is despite the fact that lots of them
have grown children."
Men, she added, "cannot be independent at home."
"This is why most members of our working teams are men. At
least the institutionalization of improving women's position
indicates the full commitment of the government."
On the legal level, she said the 1945 Constitution, the State
Guidelines and laws such as the 1984 law against discrimination,
which make the improvement of women's positions here compulsory.
It is urgent, she said, given the statistic that "over the
last 15 years" two thirds of illiterate persons in Indonesia were
women. Statistics of the last 1990 census note that there are 5.7
illiterate women out of a total of 8.57 illiterates here.
However, she said the Ministry will not go so far as to try to
change the Marriage Law, which states that men are the head of
the family.
"That means in decision making, you know how it is..," she
said.
Perseption
Although Syamsiah said the four natural traits of women has
been explained "thousands of times." She admitted the perception
is quite new, as reflected among other speakers and participants.
Kemala Motik, a noted businesswoman, defined natural roles as
being a wife, mother, and member of society.
A participant and student from the National Maritime Academy,
Nurbaiti asked whether she would be "opposed by society" and go
against her kodrat if she took up the required minimum of one-
year assignment at sea.
In reply Kemala said that, as she had chosen a field that is
quite uncommon here for women, she should either take a husband
who also works at sea or make a clear agreement "in writing if
necessary," with her future husband.
Another maritime student, Hadidjah Ali, said if her future
husband did not agree to her job at sea, she did not mind to take
up a job on land like shipping administration.
Atmajaya students Jimmy and Ucok said they were ready to take
up domestic roles, though Jimmy said the wife should make
decisions "on details such as the daily budget, and servants."
Ucok said he would bring up his family very differently from
his traditional Batak (ethnic of Sumatra) family, in which the
father "was king" and "my mother was often very tired."
Student Mena Haryanto said she would try to bring up her
children equally but added that "it is difficult to really trust
boys with cleaning up."
However she remembered that her father was better at ironing
than her mother "because he had to do feminine jobs in his
family."
Other speakers were Yanti Sugarda, president director of PT
Surindo Utama, psychologist Dewi Matindas and the director of the
Interstudi Communications School, Toto Ariyanto. All of the
speakers touched on women's attitudes, particularly at work, and
the perception that co-workers had towards women. (anr)
Pride and prejudice concerning women's roles
JAKARTA (JP): Nurturing the home and family is not the natural
and sole responsibility of women, said a high level official of
the State Ministry for Women's Roles on Saturday.
"There are only four natural traits (kodrat) of women," said
Syamsiah Achmad, speaking for Minister Mien Sugandhi at a
discussion on women's roles at the private Atmajaya University in
Central Jakarta.
"These are menstruation, pregnancy, delivery and
breast-feeding. Bottle-feeding and everything else can be done by
men," the assistant to the Minister said.
She also cited surveys showing that working women carry the
bulk of responsibilities in the family apart from what they have
to do at work.
Syamsiah pointed at the Ministry itself as an example of the
difficulties in changing "human-made, not God-given perceptions."
"Many of the women employees outside Jakarta cannot come to
our four-month training sessions because they cannot leave their
families that long. This is despite the fact that lots of them
have grown children."
Men, she added, "cannot be independent at home."
"This is why most members of our working teams are men. At
least the institutionalization of improving women's position
indicates the full commitment of the government."
On the legal level, she said the 1945 Constitution, the State
Guidelines and laws such as the 1984 law against discrimination,
which make the improvement of women's positions here compulsory.
It is urgent, she said, given the statistic that "over the
last 15 years" two thirds of illiterate persons in Indonesia were
women. Statistics of the last 1990 census note that there are 5.7
illiterate women out of a total of 8.57 illiterates here.
However, she said the Ministry will not go so far as to try to
change the Marriage Law, which states that men are the head of
the family.
"That means in decision making, you know how it is..," she
said.
Perseption
Although Syamsiah said the four natural traits of women has
been explained "thousands of times." She admitted the perception
is quite new, as reflected among other speakers and participants.
Kemala Motik, a noted businesswoman, defined natural roles as
being a wife, mother, and member of society.
A participant and student from the National Maritime Academy,
Nurbaiti asked whether she would be "opposed by society" and go
against her kodrat if she took up the required minimum of one-
year assignment at sea.
In reply Kemala said that, as she had chosen a field that is
quite uncommon here for women, she should either take a husband
who also works at sea or make a clear agreement "in writing if
necessary," with her future husband.
Another maritime student, Hadidjah Ali, said if her future
husband did not agree to her job at sea, she did not mind to take
up a job on land like shipping administration.
Atmajaya students Jimmy and Ucok said they were ready to take
up domestic roles, though Jimmy said the wife should make
decisions "on details such as the daily budget, and servants."
Ucok said he would bring up his family very differently from
his traditional Batak (ethnic of Sumatra) family, in which the
father "was king" and "my mother was often very tired."
Student Mena Haryanto said she would try to bring up her
children equally but added that "it is difficult to really trust
boys with cleaning up."
However she remembered that her father was better at ironing
than her mother "because he had to do feminine jobs in his
family."
Other speakers were Yanti Sugarda, president director of PT
Surindo Utama, psychologist Dewi Matindas and the director of the
Interstudi Communications School, Toto Ariyanto. All of the
speakers touched on women's attitudes, particularly at work, and
the perception that co-workers had towards women. (anr)