Power to women

Women activists have long questioned the wisdom of having a state minister of women's affairs in the Cabinet. Many view the office as serving an ornamental role rather than representing a genuine fight to end gender discrimination and promote equality. Successive women who occupied the post in the past rarely departed from symbolic gestures of showing the government's care toward women and to their advancement in this male-dominated society.

It therefore came as a great surprise when Khofifah Indar Parawansa, a young and aggressive politician, was recruited to the post which she at one time sought to eliminate. It was even an even bigger surprise that she took the job. Yet, barely a month into her tenure, Khofifah has moved quickly to alter the image of her office and lend credibility to a post which in the past has been derided, by herself and women's groups, as preserving rather than ending entrenched male dominance of society.

Her first move was to change the official title of her office to Menteri Negara Pemberdayaan Perempuan, or State Minister of the Empowerment of Women, opting for the word perempuan which is associated with a more progressive view of women than the formerly used wanita.

She then maneuvered to bring the powerful National Family Planning Coordinating Board (BKKBN) under her office, a move critical to ending the official practice of making women solely responsible for bringing Indonesia's population under control.

She also staked her claim to turn her office into a "one door" stop for all government policies regarding gender. It remains to be seen how she intends to put this idea into practice.

She has also demanded that at least one of three judges on a panel trying a rape case should be a woman. The rationale is that a woman judge would be likely to have more empathy toward rape victims and therefore would not let rapists off lightly.

Although her latest proposal has not been approved -- there are even signs that it will be rejected -- consciously or not, it marks the first official attempt at an affirmative action policy, which could well provide a shortcut and the most effective remedy to redress current practices of sexual discrimination.

Granted, an affirmative action policy is discriminatory, but since the problem for women's advancement in Indonesia lies more with access rather than with their potential, it stands to reason that such a policy should be given a chance. This is especially true in a society where the advancement of the women's cause faces not only cultural but institutional barriers. While few people doubt their ability and potential to contribute, women do not enjoy the same access as men in such fields as education, employment, politics and law. An affirmative action policy, with a defined time frame, would go a long way in addressing the problem.

The early signals from Khofifah's office are encouraging. Rather than causing dismay through her acceptance of the Cabinet post, her presence has raised hopes that there will now be significant changes for the country's more than 104 million women. The House of Representatives may have lost one of its best upstart politicians, but by being in the Cabinet, she could channel her critical views more innovatively, and effectively, into shaping government policies affecting more than half of the country's population.

With public expectations running high, her first hearing with the House of Representatives' Commission VI on human resources and religious affairs on Monday was a letdown. Rather than engaging the House about policy initiatives, she spent a large part of the hearing rehashing old complaints of injustices against women and of the potential contribution women could make toward societal development if they were given the chance.

The time is long gone for indulging in slogans or self-pity. Khofifah should seize this prime opportunity to push on with policy initiatives to end discriminative practices in society.

Many women in towns and villages have broken down gender and cultural barriers by moving into professions which at one time were considered exclusively male domains. Khofifah herself is one of the few women who have penetrated Indonesia's political sphere. She owes it to herself, as well as to her gender, to carry on this fight for empowering women in her newly renamed office.