The difficult journey of Indonesian women

The difficult journey of Indonesian women

Indonesian Women: The Journey Continues;
Mayling Oey-Gardiner and Carla Bianpoen, editors;
Publisher RSPAS Publishing, Research School of Pacific and Asian
Studies. The Australia National University Canberra ACT 0200,
Australia;
335pp.

JAKARTA (JP): To confine a woman within the four walls of a
home and to restrict her role in life merely to that of a wife
and mother is perhaps the greatest injustice done to half of
humanity. For 'queen of the household' has proved to be an empty
title given to women who may have been adored for centuries, but
least appreciated.

The result is that all of the world's population finds itself
imprisoned today in a patriarchal society, dominated by male
values that define a kind of development which even women have
come to accept as a norm. The solution lies in simply having as
many women as possible at all top level, decision-making
positions so that they are able to decide for themselves as to
what they want instead of breaking down in tears of humiliation
at the repeatedly asked masculine question: "What do you want?"

That seems to be the conclusion of Indonesian Women: The
Journey Continues, a 335-page book edited by social science
researcher Mayling Oey-Gardiner and Carla Bianpoen, a freelance
writer.

The book, the first of its kind to chronicle the history of
the Indonesian women's movement, has 17 chapters dealing with
issues of continuity and change in the life of women living in a
man's world. Before Independence, Indonesian women felt that they
were part of the same struggle as men. They fought shoulder-to-
shoulder with men against the injustices of colonial rule. In the
post-Independence period, particularly during thirty two years
under the rule of former president Soeharto, the role of women
was depoliticized and an idealized role was propagated as a
provider of services to men and as nurturer of the future
generation.

The forward is by Toeti Heraty Roosseno, poet, philosopher and
feminist whose most lethal weapon is her very femininity. Toeti
writes that when women keep silent on being asked," what do women
want?", men are all too eager to answer in their stead. But the
past has shown that men come up with solutions that bear no
resemblance to reality.

Since government is almost all male, it is not surprising that
most government programs are gender blind. Developed by men
according to what they think is good for women, the programs
seldom address the real needs of women.

However the other question that all women must address today
is whether they want protection or equality? Women have still to
solve this dilemma themselves but they remain divided over the
issue. Some women are happy to continue striving to live up to
the ideal silhouette in order to conform to stereotypical images
concocted by men of the mother, virgin, whore, career woman,
spinster, tomboy, seductress or femme fatale. The tragedy is
magnified as some of women's worst enemies remain women.

Toeti describes the success of any women's movement as one
that is first able to change the hearts and minds of other women,
before it can even attempt to articulate to men what women want.
In Indonesia it has been a state ideology for three decades and
more to push women as dependents or consorts of men under the
suwargo nunut neroko katut (sharing heaven and hell) ideology.

Wives of bureaucrats and the armed forces have worked
tirelessly to empower their husbands and thus to empower the
state. Myths, uncontested ideal images of women and the desire
for a better life continue to motivate even strong women to make
it their life's mission to nurture and to support men. Most of
them continue to believe that it is kodrat wanita (woman's
nature) to protect the self-esteem of the men of this world.

Perhaps due to this garbled way of thinking the state of most
women at the start of the new millennium remains an area of deep
concern. Poor Indonesians, half of whom are women, are still
struggling to gain access to basic services and facilities. In
Indonesian Women between Yesterday and Tomorrow, the last chapter
in the book, attendance of girls at primary school level is said
to be fairly high, but the general educational level of most
women is low. Only 1.5 percent of Indonesian women have had a
university education and this unfortunate fact continues to
underline sexual stereotypes, reinforcing among both girls and
boys the traditional, domestic role of women.

If their health continues to be a cause for concern, with
maternal mortality being one of the highest in the world, women
will remain too feeble to stand up to the injustices that they
face. The ongoing economic crisis has further affected the health
of poor women hardest, especially that of nursing mothers.

Women's participation in economic activities has increased
significantly in all sectors. That is the good news. The bad news
is that gender inequalities remain in the labor market, with
women earning much lower wages than men.

In the opening chapter Continuity, Change and Women in
a Man's World by Oey May-Gardiner, it is pointed out that women's
increased participation in economic activity has yet to be
accompanied by the effective integration of women's interests and
concerns in decision-making regarding development issues. For a
large proportion of the female workforce remains in the informal
sector where poor women face the double burden of being both poor
and female.

The ideological constraints of the Soeharto era are gone and
with them the official image of women as mothers and wives. Women
participated in great numbers in the last elections and the
country missed having its first woman President by a
hairsbreadth.

The coalition that defeated a woman's rightful bid for the
presidency remains powerful, united as it is by deeply rooted
beliefs and interests. Despite that, a relatively small number of
women, generally urban, educated professionals are proof enough
that they are capable of much more than spending an entire
lifetime hovering in the shadow of men.

However, it is uncertain when the majority of women will take
their rightful place in society without encouraging men to act as
their dalang (puppet master). This depends entirely on how fast
women are able to educate themselves and to look after their
health.

But whenever that does happen then perhaps this earth will
have become the kind of place it was always meant to be.

--Mehru Jaffer