Bagus Budi Tama Saragih, Jakarta – A group of NGOs have lambasted the government for failing to give women more of a voice in politics despite the ratification of the UN's anti-discrimination law 26 years ago.
The group, calling themselves the Civic Alliance for Equality and Democracy, comprises 15 NGOs, including the Indonesian Conference for Religion and Peace (ICRP), the Indonesian Women's Association for Justice (LBH Apik), the Indonesian Political Caucus for Women (KPPI), the Center for Women's Empowerment in Politics, the Indonesian Network for Women and Politics and Mitra Perempuan.
Representatives of the NGOs held a press conference on Saturday, asking President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration to be consistent in implementing gender equality in its policies and development programs.
Parliament ratified UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (Cedaw) in 1984, Titi Sumbung from the Indonesian Network for Women and Politics said.
"The law obliges the government to provide women with special treatment in order to pursue gender equality. But women are still treated as second-class citizens to this day," Titi said. The alliance cited the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which in 2009 ranked Indonesia 91st out of 144 countries on it's Gender Development Index.
The same UNDP report put Indonesia at 89th place out of 186 countries on Gender Empowerment Measurement. "Our public policies are still not women-oriented enough," she said.
Titi reiterated that special treatment for women was necessary to allow for more opportunities for women to take part in politics and hold decision-making positions in the government.
"Women have been left behind for years. We cannot compete with men now since gender inequality has been going on for so long. Therefore, special privileges are needed to encourage women to participate," Titi said.
A representative from the Center for Women's Empowerment in Politics, Sjamsiah Achmad, said the House of Representatives had actually issued a number of laws that included the obligation to allow more space for women's participation.
A 2008 law on political parties stipulates that at least 30 percent of a political party's officials should be women. Another 2008 law on general elections also says women should fill at least 30 percent of legislative candidates. "The fact is, however, most of officials of political parties are still men, particularly those at the top-level."
The 2009 general election resulted in only 98 women being elected of 560 legislators. It is higher than the result of 2004 general elections where women filled only 11 percent of the 550 House seats. In the Regional Representatives Council (DPD), 27 percent or 36 out of 132 seats are women.
"We need more women legislators to play active roles in accommodating the aspirations of all women," she said, adding that the proportion of government did not represent the reality that more than half of Indonesia's population were women.
Titi said the government had failed to make regulations to enforce the laws. "In addition to the lack of regulation, the laws themselves don't stipulate anything about sanctions. So the political parties that don't have 30 percent participation rates [for women] can stay that way without fear of punishment."