Women gathered in a national meeting in East Jakarta this week, focusing on how they could better advocate for women's issues. Among them were lecturer of political studies at the University of Indonesia Ani W. Soetjipto, also of the Center for Electoral Reform and writer of Politik perempuan bukan gerhana (Women's politics is not an eclipse). She talked to The Jakarta Post's Adisti Sukma Sawitri on her views on the women's movement here. The following are excerpts of the interview:
Question: What is the current situation of the women's movement here?
Answer: The movements are exclusive and there are no main issues uniting them. Women groups are focusing on their respective activities instead of working with other possible allies, like those fighting for human rights, the environment and against corruption.
Instead, these potential allies are using women's issues to support their campaigns.
Women groups are also less coordinated and each of them thinks it represents the best issues. And they all compete to grab public attention. In the end, none of them sound significant.
Inconsistency is another problem for us. If we're professional, of course we have to stick with one issue that we agree on. In fact, we have so many interests. Often we deal with issues, which are global trends and what's catching international donors' attention to fund our activities.
How much chance to women have to make necessary reforms here?
The chances are getting smaller because the country is moving to a consolidated government system after the fall of the New Order.
We lost the momentum a few years ago because we put so much energy into amendments to the Constitution, and setting up regional autonomy and decentralization. These reforms, however, have yet to improve women's welfare. Women are still the victims of every public policy process in our country.
In other countries there were similar transitions, like in Uganda, Rwanda and South Africa. But women activists there were well organized enough that they could bring women issues to the center stage of their governments' policies.
These countries allotted bigger budget allocation for women after governmental transitions. Whenever their people talk about democracy, women's issues are at the center.
Why have reforms so far not involved the women's movement?
Regional autonomy complicates things even further because we have different cultural, local political and social conditions in different regions.
In fairly homogenous regions like Bengkulu, the local movement could easily propose a larger budget allocation for women because things are less complicated.
But in regions like Banyuwangi regency (East Java) where the political temperature is high, it is harder for reforms. And Regent Ratna Ani Lestari faces a hard time because most locals have adopted fundamentalist beliefs that are against women being community leaders.
So what are the main issues that could unite women's groups here?
Globalization and fundamentalism are among our main concerns because they are related to the setback of women's access to education, health, politics and economics.
Globalization, through opening of labor markets, leads to many women becoming the slaves of multinational companies with low salaries so they cannot support their families. These companies trap women in poverty with limiting access to education and health facilities so that they can keep their salaries cheap.
Meanwhile, fundamentalism takes us back to the time of our grandmothers, when women were expected to stay home and take care of their children. They are taught to obey whatever their husband says, even if it endangered their health and lives.
This issue is very difficult, it even divides the women's movement from the level of the state to that of our daily lives. Many women, even activists, still support fundamentalism.
Most women support the pornography bill because they think it's protecting them in terms that they would be safe if they dress properly in public. They don't realize that the drafted bill makes women "bad girls" that need to be controlled by the government. Fundamentalism leads us not only into conflict with government policy, but also those who believe in conservatism, including women themselves.
What should be the strategy to improve the women's movement here?
Go back to the basics. We have to organize better, make good networks, and educate activists and their communities better, as well as empowering ourselves financially. We should not rely so much on donors and we should stick to our concerns. We could live without this financial support in the past and we certainly should be able to do it now.
That's why we're having this national meeting, to organize and to network. We also hope to talk to the government since they have been neglecting us ever since President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono came into power.
He probably did not realize that most of his voters in 2004 were women. If he wants to win the next election, he had better help us now.