'Social expectations hold back career women'

On Dec. 22, the country will celebrate Women's Day, which focuses on respect for the role of women, especially in fighting for independence. What has been the role of Indonesian women since the country achieved independence in 1945? The Jakarta Post asked people's views on the issue.

Maitra Widiantini, 30, is a marketing manager for WWF Indonesia in Kuningan, South Jakarta. She lives in East Jakarta.

Being an Indonesian woman is really complicated. For a working woman who is also a housewife, demands to succeed in the office as well as responsibility toward the family are often so complicated, forcing her to give up one or the other.

While for the single woman in Indonesia, society's expectation that she become a wife and mother often prevent her from doing well in her career.

Emancipation, feminism and gender equality as interpreted by western thinkers have made us as Indonesian women feel we are losing our femininity.

Dina Widyasanti, 31, works for PT Indosat on Jl. Thamrin, Central Jakarta. She lives in Cipinang Elok, East Jakarta.

The modern Indonesian woman is someone who has the courage to voice her thoughts wisely and not accept her parent's or husband's decision blindly.

Not many people can accept this though, not even the women themselves, because we are what our parents taught us to be.

And unfortunately, many of them are taught by the same teachings that sought to confine women.

-- The Jakarta Post