Jakarta – The National Commission on Violence Against Women has urged all stakeholders in the upcoming legislative election to stop the ongoing intimidation and gender discrimination against women – especially women legislative candidates.
Presenting the results of a field survey that began last July, commission chairwoman Neng Dara Affiah said her commission had found numerous cases of intimidation and gender discrimination against female voters and legislative candidates.
"In this election it is still difficult for women, and this vulnerable group has often suffered from intimidation and has been more discriminated against [in the leadup to the 2009 election] than in the 2004 general election," Affiah said recently.
According to the research, many male legislative candidates had intimidated rather than coordinated with fellow female candidates, to reduce the latter's ability to attain popularity in the same electorate.
Affifah cited an example of a male legislative candidate who had deployed campaign members and thugs to intimidate a fellow candidate in Lumajang, East Java.
"The female candidate has a lot of potential supporters in her electoral district, because she is already popular and has proposed people-oriented policies, but her local party leader who acts like a thug has made a controversial policy, and her male competitors have deployed numerous tactics to prevent her from campaigning in their electorate.
"We are sure this intimidation of women candidates also happened in many other parties," Affifah said.
She also questioned election constestants' lists of campaigners, who were often party functionaries and legislative candidates.
"The worst thing is that male candidates often ask their party's constituents to choose the party symbol, rather than a candidates' name, which can have bad implications for women candidates. This is really not fair on women," she said.
According to the commission, the discimination can be blamed in part on the majority vote system used to determine election winners, that has prompted candidates to wage fierce campaigns against each other to win voters' support.
Intimidation has taken place in rural areas and among poorer families, where husbands mistreat their wives and children "and under feudalistic customs, husbands have frequently forced their wives, using pressure or by direct order, to cast their votes for certain political parties and legislative candidates," Neng Dara said.