Women 'ready for VP' in five years
Women 'ready for VP' in five years
JAKARTA (JP): State Minister of Women's Roles Mien Sugandhi
said yesterday Indonesian women will be ready for the vice
presidency in the next five years.
"Now, there's no chance for women. But in the next four or
five years, Insya Allah (God willing), we can have a female vice
president. There's no need to be hasty now," she told journalists
during a briefing at the Ministry of Information on the 69th
Women's Day scheduled for Dec. 22.
She blamed gender stereotypes, which portrayed women as
simple-minded, incapable and weak, for hampering women from
assuming high ranking official posts such as mayors, governors
and vice president.
She did not elaborate on why Indonesian women have to wait
five years for the vice presidency. She also did not comment on
recent calls for a female president.
She recalled how once she had backed a woman for mayor. The
governor of the province, however, rejected her effort simply by
saying: "'Mam, the men in our province refuse to be led by a
woman'."
"We have always had to nrimo (accept) what men say. We have to
fight this," she said, adding that women make up the majority in
the country.
Women constitute 50.3 percent of the total population of 200
million people.
Mien said women should be empowered and their potential
developed or else they would be a burden to national development.
She praised Abdurrahman Wahid, the chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama
(NU), for his remark about the possibility of Siti Hardiyanti
Rukmana, President Soeharto's eldest daughter, becoming a state
leader. Better known as Tutut, Hardiyanti is a Golkar leader and
an influential business tycoon.
Abdurrahman had also mentioned Megawati Soekarnoputri, the
toppled leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), as a
potential future state leader.
"We are proud of them, Mbak Tutut and Megawati (only the
latter should not be seen in her capacity as) the former leader
of PDI ... but as a woman. We appreciate their struggle," she
said. (09)