Women have made numerous achievements in various fields. In Indonesian politics, many women have served as Cabinet ministers. We have also had a woman president.
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Kompas/Wisnu Widiantoro
Participants sign a banner as a show of support for a bill on the elimination of sexual violence during this year’s Women\'s March at the National Monument (Monas) in Central Jakarta on Saturday (3/3). During the event, which marked International Women’s Day, participants called on the government to protect women from all forms of violence and urged lawmakers to pass the bill.
The fact that gender-based inequality was the theme of the 2018 International Women Day shows that equality remains a huge problem for women.
Women have made numerous achievements in various fields. In Indonesian politics, many women have served as Cabinet ministers. We have also had a woman president. In economics, Manpower Ministry data shows the continuous increase of women’s participation in the workforce. The ministry’s data shows that the country saw an additional 1.6 million businesswomen in 2015-2016.
However, we should also acknowledge that practices of discrimination, exploitation, oppression and violence against women remain commonplace, both in a household environment, at work, in business, politics and in society.
Discrimination exists not only in treatment, but also in ensuring access, participation, control and opportunities that are needed for development. In a larger scope, many public policies are still discriminatory toward women.
Activists and the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) work to highlight cases of child marriages, violence against children, discrimination against women, the exploitation of female workers, human trafficking and various other violations of rights placing women as victims. Sexual violence accounts for 60 percent of cases of violence toward women. Health Ministry data shows that 90 percent of female workers experience sexual harassment at their workplace.
Women, especially of the poor and uneducated class, are often objectified in trafficking and prostitution. At work, women often suffer from stereotypes, unequal pay and imbalanced opportunities at certain office positions. In politics, the allocation of at least 30 percent of legislative seats for women still leaves much to be desired. Socioeconomic conditions marginalize women in terms of access to education, health and fulfilment of other rights.
Despite regulatory protection for women from various forms of discrimination, such as Law No. 7/1984 on the eradication of discrimination against women, efforts to ensure gender equality and justice are often obstructed local regulations (perda) and societal rules.
An entrenched culture of patriarchy and misinterpretation of religious teachings often leads to women being put in a place that is inferior to men. Even worse, the state sometimes becomes the main actor. A prime example is the expansion of adultery articles in the new Criminal Code (KUHP) draft bill, which tends to discriminate and criminalize marginalized communities, especially women.
Such conditions lead to an urgency for affirmative policies to ensure equality. Building awareness, starting from the smallest environment, is necessary. A gender perspective needs to be adopted in developing policies to ensure that women have equal rights and opportunities.
Various studies show that women’s empowerment will accelerate a country’s socioeconomic growth and development. Resolving gender inequality is an important key to ensuring the optimum contribution of 69.4 million productive-age women and the birth of high-quality future generations for the nation.
