Jakarta – Indonesia's political parties and legislators have not strongly supported women in politics, despite a law that requires that women comprise 30 percent of all candidates, say researchers.

"The 30 percent quota has not yet been achieved," said Adriana Venny, a gender researcher for the legislature, at an event on Friday for a book on the status of women legislators in the 2004-2009 legislative term. The 2008 Political Party Law requires that women comprise 30 percent of the national and regional boards of all political parties that compete in elections.

One reason behind the slow pace towards meeting the quota is a persistent cultural perception that women are inferior and unfit for public office, Adriana said.

"Other issues include public questioning of women's leadership abilities and the lack of an atmosphere conducive to gender equality in the legislature," she said.

Ani Soetjipto, another researcher for the book, said that the structure and mechanisms used during the 2004-2009 legislative period did not fully implement a gender-responsive approach.

"One of the problems was a lack of understanding of gender among both male and female legislators," she added.

"This caused the development of seemingly gender-neutral regulations that did not seem to discriminate against women, but once implemented discriminated against women," she said.

Political parties also excluded women legislators from administrative structures during the last legislative period, Adriana said.

"Before the legislative election, all parties passed the verification process because they had fulfilled the political party law." "After the election, only two parties kept their promises and fulfilled the 30 percent quota within their party structure."

Women legislators faced several problems in the 2004-2009 period, such as a lack of political support from their parties, Adriana said. "Many political parties have an ambiguous attitude towards the 30-percent quota for women," she said.

Male and female legislators were also equally ambiguous in supporting pro-women policies, she said.

A report from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) discussed at the book event shows that the number of female representatives in the House of Representatives increased from 11.8 percent in 2004-2009 to 17.32 percent for the 2009-2014 term, which is well below the target of 30 percent.

Adriana said that even though the current working period of women representatives had increased, their performance was not optimal.

"In fact, there is a decline," she said. "The delayed deliberation of the domestic workers protection bill is just one example," she said. (map)