Women's quota for show?

Advocates of increasing political representation for women are facing their worst fears -- that women are becoming a political commodity just for parties to meet the requirements to contest the next elections.

Political parties were earlier rushing to get their legislative candidates list in on time with the General Elections Commission (KPU) -- who gave them extra time to "fix" their lists that included scores of candidates with forged school and university certificates, and to add the number of women to their lists.

In the short time available only a few among the 24 parties contesting the polls managed to come up with the minimum 30 percent of women required among their candidates, and one or two even managed a little more. However closer scrutiny revealed that far fewer women were given top ranks on the lists -- the unwritten guarantee that those with top numbers (nomor jadi) would be appointed by their parties to legislative seats if the candidates themselves failed to gain the required minimum of votes in their constituencies.

Even women of Golkar, formerly the most powerful party, recently protested at the party's headquarters, feeling betrayed by what they saw as the underlying reluctance of the male leaders to nominate women.

A telephone poll by Kompas daily published on Monday revealed that most respondents said they believed that the fielding of women candidates was indeed mostly done to demonstrate that parties had fulfilled their "political promises", rather than a sign of political awareness among the women themselves.

But the percentage of women respondents who believed so (49.3 percent) was lower than men (65.6 percent), indicating perhaps that women still have hope, and therefore trust, in the elections that many are skeptical of. Unfortunately the daily did not give the absolute figures of their respondents in Jakarta, Surabaya, Medan, Padang, Pontianak, Banjarmasin, Manado, Makassar and Jayapura.

And 44.9 percent of the women were sure that the fielding of women candidates was an indication of women's political awareness compared to only 30.3 percent who thought so among men.

Both men and women mostly said they were not sure that the elections would result in 30 percent of women legislators at the House of Representatives. But again, more men were distrustful than women, and more women, or 45.9 percent, were sure that the election results would lead to 30 percent women legislators.

The scope of the poll might be small, but it indicates the distrust of people in politicians, however well-meaning they may be. Yet it also signals hope in women candidates, particularly among women, because this segment of the population, estimated currently at 56 percent, have a clear stake in the country's future decision makers.

The nation's homemakers, mothers, women workers and professionals would gain if there were more legislators who were brought up to be more sensitive and caring; though women in power might be just as prone to abuse as men.

The quota of 30 percent of parties' legislative candidates is however not mandatory in the 1999 Elections Law, to the disappointment of activists who have been campaigning for the issue since 2000; nevertheless the KPU had tried to make parties live up to the spirit of the times.

Hence despite the reformasi spirit these days leading to the "fashionable" acceptance of encouraging women to enter politics, the women candidates and their supporters can only maneuver as best as possible in the leeway available in the political system.

Activists urge that the Elections Law be changed to make the quota mandatory, saying it is the only way that women can catch up in a male-dominated environment.

This measure would then lead to a more conducive situation for the next elections after 2004.

For today, it would be more realistic to say that efforts so far have succeeded in popularizing the need for more women in politics, not just in our corporate sector and non-governmental organizations, where many women play a leading role.

But for now, in the short time available ahead of the campaign period in March, voter' education must be stepped up so that people can make informed choices from the best possible candidates available. As earlier simulations on the new system of elections have revealed, choosing the desired party and candidates itself is difficult, let alone choosing parties and women candidates who are deemed qualified.

Women candidates must, with the help of organizations focusing on elections, educate themselves as best as possible in the ways of politics and also in the issues that they can realistically "sell" to potential voters.

They may not have much support from our first female president, Megawati Soekarnoputri, as indicated by her signing of the Elections Law -- and even face skepticism from among women themselves.

But if the upcoming elections may end up in few surprises, as many observers say, then one of them would hopefully be the pleasant one of a larger, albeit slightly, representation of 56 percent of the country's population in our legislative bodies -- which have mostly managed to continue to disappoint the men and women they claim to represent.