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)