Women's poverty, an alarming signal

Women's poverty, an alarming signal

I was struck by an article in the Sunday edition (April 30,
1997) of the Media Indonesia daily titled Kemiskinan Perempuan
(Women's poverty).

The article was written by Prof. Dr. Saparinah Sadli, a member
of the National Commission on Human Rights and the head of the
postgraduate program for women's studies at the University of
Indonesia.

In that article, Prof. Saparinah Sadli expresses serious
doubts about the extent of consideration that is being given to
women's poverty, which she says is as important as men's. The
question emerged as the cabinet meeting on April 22, which was
called specifically to firm up the poverty alleviation plan, had
not included the State Minister of Women's Roles. The professor
is of the opinion that poverty is a condition closely related to
women's lives, and if poverty alleviation means the alleviation
of poverty for both men and women, then men and women should
jointly deal with it.

The core of the matter is: women do play a significant
economic role in the household; do they also have proportional
access to economic benefits?

Why was the State Minister of Women's Roles not invited and
how does the government actually view women's poverty? Prof.
Saparinah Sadli has rung an alarming bell.

CARLA BIANPOEN

Jakarta