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.