Jakarta – Activists hail President Joko Widodo's appointment of eight women in his cabinet – the largest number in Indonesia thus far, although they remain cautious as to calling this a significant progress.
Prior to this, the highest number of women in the cabinet had been the four in the second term of former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
"In quantitative terms, we can see this as part of efforts to encourage progresses by women," Masruchah, deputy chairwoman of the National Women's Commission (Komnas Perempuan) told the Jakarta Globe on Tuesday.
"Some of them also occupy strategic positions that will enable them to protect and support women and marginalized groups in general."
Among the female appointees in Joko's Working Cabinet are Puan Maharani, the coordinating minister for human development and cultural affairs, State Enterprise Minister Rini Soemarno, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi and Health Minister Nila Moeloek.
The four others are Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya, Maritime and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti, Social Services Minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa and State Minister for Women's Empowerment and Children Protection Yohana Yembise.
While figures such as Retno, Indonesia's first female foreign minister, Nila and Yohana are largely considered professional technocrats, the others, critics have accused, are appointed mainly because of their proximity to power.
Puan, for example, is the daughter of Megawati Soekarnoputri, the chairwoman of Joko's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).
Rini, meanwhile, has long been known to be Megawati's confidant; she was the industry and trade minister during the latter's presidency.
Rini, former chief of Astra International, is considered by some critics to be Joko's most controversial choice. They cite her questioning last year by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), in an investigation related to the notorious Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance (BLBI) case.
Rini, though, seems to pay no heed to her critics, addressing only work-related issues when speaking to journalists at her new office.
On Tuesday she said she would not hastily appoint a new president director of state oil and gas firm Pertamina, following the resignation of Karen Agustiawan.
"Pertamina is a huge state enterprise, so we won't just recommend some random names to the president," Rini said, reported by news portal jpnn.com.
Perhaps due to these issues, Masruchah of Komnas Perempuan hesitates to comment on the female ministers' qualities. "They've only been appointed as ministers for a few days. We can only judge their qualities after they have worked for at least 100 days," she said.
Andi Widjajanto, a close aide to Joko, said the president did not seek to allocate women specifically in these positions. "When we finished composing the cabinet lineup on Saturday, we were surprised that it included eight women," Andi said. "It was an unintended result."
Meanwhile, the World Economic Forum in its latest Global Gender Gap Report ranks Indonesia at the 97th place out of 142 countries included in the report – which measures gender based gaps in access to economic participation, education attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment.
Iceland tops the rankings, followed by four Scandinavian nations. The Philippines is in ninth place and Yemen is last.
Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/praise-record-number-women-serve-jokowis-cabinet/