Jakarta – Activists seized the International Women's Day on Monday to voice Indonesian women's vulnerability to violence, which they say extends further than domestic abuse.
"When we try to talk about violence towards women, most people only define it as domestic violence, but it goes far beyond that," said Wardarina, program coordinator for the Women's Solidarity for Human Rights (Solidaritas Perempuan) in Central Jakarta during a rally to commemorate the day.
The violence extends to the state level, where women become victims of discriminative laws and are often hit hardest by disasters caused by unfair policies. Wardarina said women go through specific suffering when exposed to disasters and environmental damage.
"For example, when women become victims of a disaster, they often have to take care of themselves as well as the children. They are also prone to losing their previous roles in agriculture when a community's land is taken over by companies."
Wardarina said women losing their roles in agriculture often also meant losing their bargaining power.
Orchida Ramadhania, the organization's Head of Women and Conflict of Natural Resources Division, said women played a large part in the climate change issue.
"Please stop thinking of women as a separate element from climate change, such as not including the element of women in the DNPI [National Council on Climate Change]. We are the first to feel the effect."
Orchida cited several examples of regions in Indonesia undergoing environmental maladies, which eventually took their toll on women. "Sumbawa [West Nusa Tenggara] is in a critical state. More than 50 percent of the region has been turned into mining areas. Their ecosystem has been ruined."
Therefore, the women who previously managed their own land became paid workers for the mining companies, or were simply deprived of jobs, which they lost to men.
"There are also high amounts of acute respiratory diseases and reproductive diseases and these women have reportedly experienced more violence since the mining began," said Orchida, adding the problems stemmed from environmental unfriendly laws.
On Sunday, the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) issued a report revealing that in Polo and Linamutu villages, East Nusa Tenggara, women were suffering from the burning of 6,000 hectares of traditional forest for a land rehabilitation program.
The program cost the women their livelihood, as they had previously depended on tamarind trees grown in the forest, and they were also the ones who often bore the extra burden of finding water due to the drought.
In the report, Komnas Perempuan cited several examples of state-related, or state officials-related discrimination against women. These include intimidation, ignoring filed reports of violence, sexual abuse conducted by state officials, and sexual workers witch-hunt.
Overall, the Indonesia United II cabinet led by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has so far failed to end violence towards women, the activists from Solidaritas Perempuan said during the rally. "Discriminative bylaws have increased," Wardarina said.