Sexism persists despite ratification of world convention

Sexism persists despite ratification of world convention

JAKARTA (JP): Sexual discrimination against women continues to
persist, 10 years after the country ratified the Convention on
the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW), observers of women's issues say.

"I would say that we have been walking in the same spot for
the last 10 years," said Mely G. Tan, a senior sociologist, at a
panel discussion on women's rights held by the Women Studies
Department of the University of Indonesia.

The discussion, led by Saparinah Sadli and attended by about
100 participants from non-governmental organizations, government
agencies and the private sector, was held to commemorate the
university's 45th anniversary.

Participants agreed that rampant sexual discrimination was due
to the government's minimal supervision of the implementation of
the convention.

Many social, economic, political and cultural factors were
also obstacles to progress in Indonesia.

T.O. Ihromi, a senior professor of law at the university, said
that a large number of companies employing mainly female workers
routinely exploit this lack of supervision.

They have also benefited from loopholes in the law, she said.

"The government forbids discrimination against women on one
hand, but emphasizes the importance of protecting the
reproductive role of women workers on the other. But they have
not elaborated on how exactly the protection should be provided,"
she said, quoting results of a study by activist Apong Herlina.

While policies protect the reproductive rights of women,
companies respond by saying that the policy implies that women
are not the main providers of the family and therefore are not
eligible for the same salaries, fringe benefits and facilities as
male workers.

Treatment

"Women are always treated as if they have no family to provide
for," Ihromi said.

Nursyahbani Katjasungkana, a women's rights activist and
former director of the Legal Aid Foundation, pointed out another
contradiction.

"On one hand (the government) has ratified the CEDAW and made
it the basis for other laws. On the other hand, they are either
reluctant to or have not agreed to ratify other conventions on
human rights," she said.

"How are we supposed to talk about improving the political
role of women in a country if the state does not even recognize
the rights to assemble, to speak and to have free access to
information?" she asked.

If a country intends to abide by a convention, it should not
do so by ratifying a convention on women only but should also
ratify other conventions on human rights, she said.

"Unless," she added, "women are considered to be some other
kind of species."

Miriam Budiardjo, a lawyer and member of the National
Commission on Human Rights, said Indonesia has so far only
ratified four out of the 25 United Nations conventions on human
rights.

"This is a very poor record, even compared to other Asian
countries," she said.

India has ratified 15 of the conventions, China eight,
Bangladesh nine, Iran nine, Libya 18 and more than 100 countries
have ratified 10 conventions, she said.

There have been improvements over the last decade, which can
be seen, for example, in the increasing number of women voters
and women holding high-ranking government positions. In reality,
however, the situation is still far from ideal, Miriam added,
given that women make up 50.2 percent of the country's total
population.

"Figures show that there have been improvements, but they have
been very slow in coming," she said.(pwn)