Merit vs action

Merit vs action

In her speech marking Kartini Day on Sunday, President
Megawati Soekarnoputri upset the feminist movement in Indonesia
by berating those who call for a quota for women in government
positions. Megawati, the first Indonesian woman to reach the
country's highest political position, said the proposal for an
affirmative action policy to redress gender inequality would only
lead to "pseudo-advancement" for Indonesian women.

Never considered a leading figure in the women's emancipation
movement, Megawati in her speech nevertheless couched the debate
about advancing the cause of women in Indonesia in terms of
meritocracy versus an affirmative action policy. Her pro-
meritocracy approach effectively puts herself further at odds
with many women's groups who are advocating an affirmative action
approach.

Megawati said women had to prove themselves, pointing out that
the 1945 Constitution guaranteed equal rights for men and women.
She said that since women accounted for 50.4 percent of the
population (according to the 2000 census), they had the potential
to make a difference to the life of this nation.

Megawati is not alone on this issue. Many successful woman in
this still predominantly male-dominated world, like playwright
Ratna Sarumpaet, for example, says the low level of female
participation in the political process is partly because many
women with university degrees opt to stay at home rather than
pursue a political career.

Yet, to dismiss gender inequality as a non-issue is tantamount
to denying that Indonesia has a problem, and a serious one at
that, that needs addressing.

The number of women participating in politics speaks for
itself.

In the national legislature, women make up a mere nine percent
of the members. The few women representatives are even considered
as failing to represent or fight for women's causes, according to
many feminist groups. In regional politics, they fare even worse,
averaging a mere 5.9 percent of the membership of local
legislatures. The fact that there are only two women in President
Megawati's Cabinet has further eroded her credentials among some
women's groups in this country.

The rate of female participation in the corporate world and
other sectors, including the media, is not all that much better.

Going by these statistics alone, there would seem to be good
grounds for an affirmative action policy. Those who advocate such
a policy are not asking for pity as Megawati alleged. Being
underrepresented in politics is "akin to playing football with
only five members instead of 11," one activist says.

Granted there are concerns that an affirmative action policy
could lead to unforeseen problems. As Megawati said in her
speech, the effort to increase women's capabilities and roles
"should be done in ways that will not create new forms of
discrimination."

Those who are advocating an affirmative action policy are thus
challenged to come up with a clear proposition, one that
explicitly spells out its specific goals and objectives, and how
long they expect this policy, which by its nature is
discriminative, to remain until it is replaced by a full-blown
meritocracy.

One group advocating an affirmative action policy is the
Center for Electoral Reform, which says that political parties
should have at least 30 percent of the membership of their
executive boards made up of women before nominating them for
elected office. Lawyer Nursyahbani Katjasungkana, another
advocate, says that an affirmative action policy should be
temporary, "until the number of women and men are balanced."

While acknowledging that some women have shattered the glass
ceiling and made it in this male-dominated society, these
advocates say that an affirmative action policy still offers the
best way to overcome gender discrimination.

Megawati may be professing meritocracy in public, but she has
a standing order within her own Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle requiring at least one women for every five men serving
on every local executive board.

Irrespective of where one stands on the meritocracy versus
affirmative action debate, no one can deny that the existing
gender imbalance in Indonesia occurs largely because of continued
discriminatory practices against women, at almost all levels of
society in Indonesia.

Many families, for example, still give preference to boys than
girls in giving education. Discriminatory practices at work are
also still rampant.

Our constitution may guarantee equal rights for men and women,
but there are no laws against people who practice discrimination,
whether based upon gender, ethnic affiliation or other criteria.
As a signatory to the Convention against all Forms of
Discrimination against Women, Indonesia would do well to quickly
come up with legislation that would make all kinds of
discrimination a crime.