Minister seeks more access for women into politics

JAKARTA (JP): The government wants to see more women in policy-making institutions, claiming their presence is a prerequisite for desirable development in the country.

State Minister for Women's Empowerment Khofifah Indar Parawansa, stressing the importance of developing gender perspectives among policy-makers in the legislature, has proposed that a minimum quota for woman legislators be enshrined in electoral law.

She pointed out that Indonesia's growth development index ranking in the United Nation's Development Program (UNDP) list had dropped due to slow progress in education, health and income distribution as there was still a large number of uneducated women and a high mortality rate among the female population.

"Therefore women should be given more access to politics. We would suggest both to the House of Representatives and the Ministry of Home Affairs that the desired number of women in the legislature be stipulated in electoral law," she said at a seminar here earlier this week.

The minister argued that without such a move, there would be very few women entering the legislative institutions. The political mobility of women was quite limited, while the leaders of political parties were reluctant to afford women the chance of standing for election in strategic districts.

"If such a quota isn't enshrined into law, the voices of women will not be represented. Even now, many (regional) councils have no women members," she said.

Currently, only 44 of the 500 members of the House of Representatives are women.

In the 1999 general election, 51 percent of the voters were women.

The issue of discrimination against woman in politics and policy-making was one of the 12 critical issues raised during the 1994 women's international conference in China, which has become known as the Beijing Platform for Action.

Indonesia has adopted the platform and the protocols of the United Nations Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the office of the State Ministry for Women's Empowerment is now drafting targets and strategies, together with other ministries, non-governmental organizations and activists so as to put the convention into effect.

The seminar itself was aimed at ascertaining the current political condition of women in the country and to discuss opinions and policies.

The office's secretary Abdullah Cholil said they were proposing that a quota of 30 percent of the seats in the legislature be reserved for women. This is considered to be a reasonable figure having regard to women's participation in legislatures abroad.

He admitted that many people rejected the quota system based upon the argument that it would allow someone to be elected because of their sex rather than their abilities.

"I understand that this quota system could turn into a new form of gender discrimination, but we have to do it to encourage more women into politics. The real philosophy behind it is to give them their political rights after having been neglected for so many centuries. It is only a dream if we expect a balance between male and female representatives to come about naturally," he told reporters on the sidelines of the seminar.

"As a matter of fact, gender equality is a precondition for humane, just, and harmonious development," he added. (bby)