'Let women show they don't belong at home'

'Let women show they don't belong at home'

With the Jan. 19 deadline approaching for some 24 political
parties to resubmit their lists of legislative candidate, there
is concern that not all of the parties will be able to meet the
30 percent quota for women candidates for the April 5 general
election. But even those political parties that have met this
quota placed most of their women candidates at the bottom of
their lists. The Jakarta Post spoke with some city residents
about this issue.

Rita, 35, sells soft drinks near Monas in Central Jakarta. She
lives in Bekasi with her husband and three-year-old daughter:

Good for them, those women politicians and legislative
candidates, I pray for their success! Let them show that women
today do not just belong in the kitchen and the house.

We shouldn't underestimate those female entertainers who want
to be legislators .... Give them a chance to show what they have
inside their heads and to defend us women.

I hope the next president is a woman, but I won't vote for
Megawati because she has failed in her duty.

Zaky Mahendra Putra, 25, is a former student activist who now
works at a printing company in Central Jakarta. He lives in
Depok:

I think it's great to have a policy to help women compete with
the men, as many of the interests of women are not being
accommodated in the legislative councils.

However, there are several problems with the implementation of
the policy, because it seems to me that men are not ready for
women to play a larger role in politics. For example, there are
few women's names at the top of the lists of legislative
candidates, even for the big three parties.

Another possible problem is that not many women can do the job
because they have had to stay at home for so long taking care of
the domestic duties. The limited stock of capable women
contributes to their lack of competitiveness against the men.

--The Jakarta Post