Women activists push for more seats in government

Women activists push for more seats in government

JAKARTA (JP): Women activists demanded on Monday that at least
30 percent of all seats in the executive and legislative branches
of government be allocated to women at the 2004 general election
to redress the current gender imbalance in politics.

Chusnul Mari'ah, a founding member of the Women for Peace and
Justice (PEKA) Foundation, said that because women only held 45
of the 500 seats in the House of Representatives, women's issues
and concerns were rarely addressed.

Women are also poorly represented in local legislative
councils, totaling only 400 of the 10,000 councillors throughout
the country, she told reporters on the sidelines of a discussion
about women representation in the era of regional autonomy.

Chusnul, who also serves on the General Elections Commission,
cited a United Nations recommendation specifying that, ideally,
women should occupy at least 30 percent of all elected
parliamentary seats to ensure minimum representation.

Mayling Oey-Gardiner, a social researcher, told reporters that
a minimum quota for women should be imposed, not only in the
legislative branches of the government, but also for elected
government positions, such as governors and regency chiefs, as
well as non-elected positions in the administrations.

Although women make up more than a half of Indonesia's
population, their interests and problems are rarely addressed by
the government at present, Mayling said.

In her paper, she cited various examples of discriminatory
practices against women in Indonesia. In the education sector,
she said, women's access was mostly limited to senior high
school, while the education system itself was prejudiced against
women.

In health, Indonesia's post-natal mortality rate was the
highest in the region because of poor attention paid to the
problem, she said.

Mayling also explained the discriminatory nature of the labor
market, saying that women's wages were generally 40 percent to 50
percent lower than men's, and the rate of general unemployment
was higher among women than among men.

Women faced discrimination when applying for credit, even
though it had been proven that they were better than men in
meeting their debt obligations, she said.

Mayling said the election of Megawati Soekarnoputri as
Indonesia's first female president last month was not likely to
change the gender imbalance because politics in Indonesia was
essentially still a male-dominated world.

Chusnul said that, because of weak political representation,
women's aspirations were rarely considered by the government when
formulating policies.

As a result, many policies actually suppressed women's
interests, she said.

"For example, women have been affected the most by communal
conflicts in the regions, but they were not involved in resolving
the conflicts," she said, adding that the rules of the game were
established by men.

Around 100 people, mostly women, took part in the one-day
discussion organized by the PEKA Foundation. Delegates came from
different backgrounds, including those working in the government,
the private sector and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Nuri L. Soeseno of the Center For Electoral Reform, said a new
electoral system combining the existing proportional
representation and district systems, would likely increase the
chances of female politicians being elected.

Under the proportional representation system, female
candidates mostly occupy the lower field of candidate
preferences, decreasing their chances of winning the seats.

In a district system, a candidate would be assessed on merits,
and female candidates would be able to prove to voters that they
were as good if not better than men, she said.

CETRO, a coalition of many NGOs, is leading the campaign to
reform the electoral system, including the call for a direct
presidential election.

Suryatanti A. Manan, the mayor of Tanjung Pinang in Riau
province, cautioned the participants against only blaming the
political system for the poor level of women's representation.

"Women often lack confidence. Some are afraid of being branded
as `not real women' if they progress their career," Suryatanti
said.

"Given this attitude, many women have simply accepted the
discriminative treatment against them," she said. (07)