Poor women household heads struggle to survive
Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung, West Java
Nani, 25, from Cilandesan village, Subang regency, has lost hope. Her beloved husband, Zidan, has died.
Nani is still a month into pregnancy, while her daughter, Fitri, is now three. She never imagined that she would end up being widowed. "When I lost my husband, I had mixed emotions. I was sad and didn't know how to bring my child up," she told The Jakarta Post during a recent workshop titled "Women as Household Heads", in Bandung.
Nani could not stop thinking how she would have the confidence to mix with people as a widow. "People are indifferent toward widows. Neighbors avoid us, afraid that we will seduce their husbands," she said.
It is also impossible to apply for a loan to start a small business selling food, as most banks and creditors only provide loans to male household heads.
No one would wish to become a widow, but it is estimated that there are millions of women in the country who have suffered the same fate as Nani.
They have to strive to head their families and provide sustenance for their children. Some are left on their own by the death of their husband or are divorced, and some are forced to support the family as their husbands are physically handicapped.
With an average income of below Rp 7,000 (70 U.S. cents) per day, they have to provide for four to five family members, while many are illiterate and around 70 percent have not even completed elementary school.
They have to face poverty, and are stigmatized and ostracized by their communities.
National coordinator of the Women Heading Households Empowerment Program Nani Zulminarni said that those three disadvantages caused women to be ignored by the social community system, which deprived them of resources.
As a result, they will definitely be poor socially as well as economically. The average age of women household heads in Indonesia is 37, with an age range from 18 to 75.
At the end of 2000 an evaluation of the government's district- level poverty eradication program showed that the multibillion rupiah program had failed to reach the poorest group in the community, namely poor women heads of households.
They account for an estimated 13.4 percent of around 60 million households in Indonesia today. Half are victims of conflict. "The trend is rising, especially in conflict and isolated areas," said Nani. In conflict areas such as Aceh, Papua and Maluku, many housewives lost their spouses or were deserted by their husbands, who fled to other areas.
In poor, isolated areas like East and West Nusa Tenggara, most of the men migrate elsewhere, even overseas, without regularly sending home money to support their families.
"What they eventually need are improvement of their welfare and access to information, education and an enhancement of their participation in society," she said.
The government has established programs for widows and orphans in conflict areas, but they appear not to have worked. The program has prompted a group of women activists to establish a special empowerment program for poor women heads of household, provided with a grant of US$1.8 million from the Japan Social Development Fund, which has been put to proper use.
Since November 2001, women have been encouraged to organize themselves, and to be bolder and retain their self-confidence.
After two years of organizing, the grant was used to establish savings and loan cooperatives to rotate money among members. "There are three loan conditions for starting productive endeavors like farming, breeding and processing food, and also for children's schooling and providing food for elderly heads of households," she said.
Nani and her friends in West Java are not the only ones targeted. There are now around 7,000 women heads of household involved in the empowerment program in eight provinces -- West, Central and East Java, Aceh, East and West Nusa Tenggara, North Maluku and North Sulawesi.
They are organized by counseling groups to make proposals, take loans and take responsibility for the funds they have borrowed.
The funding amount is different for each province, depending on the number of household heads. In West Java for example, a district is provided with Rp 350 million (US$ 36,842), while in Aceh it is Rp 480 million, and in East Nusa Tenggara Rp 750 million. Most widows in West Java have borrowed money for starting processed food businesses, while in East and West Nusa Tenggara, it is used for raising livestock and establishing fabric-weaving businesses.
Since the provision of funds a year ago, the program has absorbed around 60 percent of the amount granted.