Parties urged to commit to female representation
Parties urged to commit to female representation
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Women legislators and activists pledged on Thursday to continue
their campaign for a 30 percent female representation in the
male-dominated House of Representatives.
They said that although the recently approved elections bill
opened the way for women legislators to obtain a fair share of
seats, the implementation of the ruling would depend much on the
commitment of the parties.
"We have to monitor and always examine how committed political
parties are to this issue," said National Awakening Party (PKB)
legislator Ida Fauziah, who chairs the Women's Parliament Caucus.
Fellow politician Noviantika Nasution of the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) appealed to women
to show their mettle so that the 30 percent quota of women
legislative candidates could be met.
Noviantika called on more women activists to join political
parties to improve women's representation in the decision-making
process.
Article 65 of the elections law stipulates that political
parties can propose legislative candidates with regard to female
representation of at least 30 percent.
The article, however, does not oblige political parties to
comply with the quota.
"We know this article is open to interpretation, but at least
there is the political will to appreciate female representation,"
Fauziah said.
A coalition of non-governmental organizations for women's
empowerment and the women's caucus had campaigned for a 30
percent of female representation on the executive boards of
political parties.
The proposal met strong resistance from a number of House
factions.
Women's activists Yenny Rosa Damayanti of the Purple Institute
women's empowerment group and Eri Seda from the Center for
Electoral Reform (Cetro) hailed the House for approving the quota
ruling.
Yenny, a prominent critic of the New Order regime, said that
with the inclusion of the 30 percent quota, all Indonesian women
had to improve their quality to enter the new era.
"Indonesian women must be prepared to vote and be voted for in
elections," Yenny added.
She said the adoption of a 30 percent quota for women would be
meaningless unless political parties opened their doors wide to
female politicians.
She expressed concern about the domination of "masculine"
issues of political struggle over "feminine" issues of
prosperity, education and conservation as a result of the
imbalanced proportion of male and female legislators.
"For that reason we have to start the 'women voting for women'
campaign," said Yenny.
Eri, meanwhile, emphasized that the inclusion of the 30
percent quota for women started the struggle of Indonesian women
in national politics. She called for monitoring and examination
of the parties' compliance with the article.