Jakarta – Discriminatory laws and bylaws in Indonesia have forever altered the personal lives of poor and marginalized women by denying them full control of their reproductive systems, the latest report by Amnesty International says.
The group's secretary-general, Salil Shetty, said many Indonesian women and girls faced an amalgam of "unchallenged social attitudes, unfair laws and stereotyped gender roles" in their "struggle for fair and equal treatment".
"Some of the barriers women face are a direct result of laws and policies that discriminate against them," he said during the release of the report, Life Without a Choice, in Jakarta on Thursday. "Other barriers are a result of discriminatory attitudes and practices among health workers and members of the community."
The report includes case studies of Miriana, 21, and Susun, 34, highlighting how discriminatory laws and attitudes, especially in the reproductive health sector, have influenced decisions women make.
Both women were married and delivered their first child before they reached their 18th birthday, which exposed them to five times more risks of dying in pregnancy or childbirth compared to women in their twenties.
According to the report, both women's lives were influenced by stereotypical social views of women as wives and child-bearers codified in the 1974 Marriage Law, which positions women as household caretakers and stigmatizes those who cannot have children or want to delay pregnancy.
Isabelle Arrandon, an Amnesty researcher focussing on Indonesia and Timor Leste, said laws also discriminated between married and unmarried women, by providing uneven access to certain reproduction services, such as contraceptives.
"Women and girls bear the most consequences since they are the ones who can become pregnant, resulting in unwanted pregnancies for those who are unmarried," she said.
The 2009 Population Law and Family Development and the 2009 Health Law stipulate that sexual and reproductive health services, such as family planning and contraception, may only be given to legally married couples.
The population and family development law also requires a formal agreement between a husband and wife before access can be provided to certain types of contraception that carry health risks. "Such laws are difficult for young women," Isabelle said.
Due to the absence of legal access to contraceptives, many unmarried girls are forced to stop schooling or undergo unsafe abortions.
Isabelle added the government needed to decriminalize abortion to guarantee that all women, not only those who suffer from medical conditions, have access to safe abortions.
She said women and health workers were largely unaware of the provision in the law which does not consider an abortion a crime in the case of pregnancy resulting from rape.
The Criminal Code criminalizes people who provide information or treatment that terminates pregnancy.
Amnesty's report urged the government to repeal and review discriminatory laws and regulations at national and regional levels to ensure that women and girls received their rights.
The National Commission for Violence Against Women says there were 154 discriminatory bylaws against women in 2009, with an additional 35 issued by September 2010. Salil said government was responsible for correcting discriminatory views. (gzl)