Law needed to promote gender equality

Law needed to promote gender equality

JAKARTA (JP): Any campaigns to promote gender equality would
be rendered useless with the absence of legal infrastructure,
observers agreed in a seminar here yesterday.

Legal experts Nursyahbani Katjasungkana and Abdul Hakim Garuda
Nusantara, as well as woman activist Syahniar Mahnida lamented
the fact that the absence of laws on discrimination against women
has perpetuated such acts. "Rampant and blatant discrimination
against women is perpetuated because there are no laws against
discriminators," said one of the speakers.

Nursyahbani said many legal practitioners, such as lawyers,
are ignorant of the main issues of gender equality, including the
principal difference between "equality" and "sameness" and the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women.

"Many lawyers are not familiar with the convention. Their
insensitivity about the constraint of the existing legal system
prevents them from doing their utmost in helping their clients,"
she added.

Nursyahbani is a founder of a legal support organization for
women called the Association of Indonesian Women for Justice.

Seconding Nursyahbani was Syahniar, a member of a working
group set up to monitor the implementation of the convention, who
said that the government has yet to be serious in its attempt to
condemn discrimination against women.

The convention was adopted by the United Nations' General
Assembly in 1979.

Indonesia ratified the convention in 1984, but there is no
sanction against violators. According to Syahniar, despite the
ratification, Indonesia has so far rebuffed other countries'
intervention on discrimination cases occurring here.

"There is no law that metes out punishment for perpetrators of
discrimination against women," Syahniar said. She pointed out
there is only one law mandating equal pay for men and women.

Syahniar cited the result of a study conducted by the
Convention Watch working group of University of Indonesia on
woman laborers in factories in Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang and
Bekasi. Out of 61 surveyed, only 9 factories did not condone
discrimination against women workers.

Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara added that equality between men
and women will remain just an ambition unless the Indonesian
legal system recognizes and reforms the patriarchal "ideology"
and community structures.

Citing Kamla Bhasin, a prominent Indian feminist, Hakim said
the deeply-embedded patriarchy, which subordinates women to men,
in society is the reason why many discriminative acts go
unnoticed.

According to Hakim, change is possible only if governments and
people fully understand and adhere to the international bill of
rights.

"The bill of rights does not differentiate men from women, and
it is impossible to fight for woman's rights when other rights
are oppressed, " he said.

The one-day seminar, titled Socializing the Results of
International Convention on Women -- a Strategic Tool Toward
Gender Equality, was held by the Women's Studies Program at
University of Indonesia's Post Graduate School. (14)