Minister complains over quota

JAKARTA: State Minister for Women's Empowerment Sri Redjeki Sumaryoto expressed her disappointment with political parties for failing to nominate enough women to the upper ranks of their candidacy list.

Redjeki said this revealed that the country still had a lot to do in resolving women's issues, particularly in politics, despite the Elections Law quota that requires that women make up 30 percent of legislative candidates.

"We know there are far more illiterate and uneducated women than men. Therefore, parties should disseminate information on the electoral system to everyone to enable more women to sit on legislative bodies," she said on Sunday during the national congress of Women's Caucus for Indonesian Politics.

The General Elections Commission announced that most parties had failed to meet the 30 percent quota for women.

Redjeki said that through her conversations with a number of women legislative candidates, she had discovered that many were unaware of gender equality and other issues facing Indonesian women.

Separately, chairperson of the caucus' steering committee Nurul Candrasari K. Masykuri said she expected women's participation in politics would contribute to the reform movement and the emergence of quality women leaders. -- Antara