Are quotas for women sill relevant

Are quotas for women sill relevant Verdinand Robertua ;  A Lecturer in International Relations at the Christian University of Indonesia (UKI), A Researcher at UKI’s Center for Security and Foreign Affairs Studies (CESFAS)

JAKARTA POST, 19 Februari 2013

Constitutional law professor Yusril Ihza Mahendra has questioned the 30 percent quota for women in the Indonesian electoral system, doubting the legal foundation of the quota and expressing a desire for the Constitutional Court to repeal it.  Many women have defended the policy. The issue of quotas for women has provoked tough debate in Indonesia and in the world. Do we need such gender-biased policies? Women are needed in politics due to perceptions that they are less prone to corruption than men. But over the past year, the country witnessed a number of elite women convicted of corruption. The cases of Angelina Sondakh, Neneng Sri Wahyuni, Sri Hartati Murdaya, Miranda Goeltom, Nunun Nurbaeti, Wa Ode Nurhayati show that women are not free from corruption.  Many researchers have endowed women with special characteristics, such as a reduced desire for corruption and additional discretion in spending. However, if women commit corruption, why should we keep the disputed quota in the very first place? Women have been the victims of oppression by a male-dominated political economy for centuries. This world goes around because of discrimination against women. Women play important roles in the economy while receiving less than they are supposed to earn.  The voice of women is the voice of the oppressed and feminism is the ideology of the women’s movement. Feminism is about justice. Feminism encourages the support of the people to help the poor and marginalized. Feminist values have not stopped circulating within the academic community, but have been implemented in our daily and personal lives. When a successful woman public official is found guilty of corruption, she betrays the core values of feminism: justice and honesty. Not only has she betrayed the community that has entrusted her, she also joins the masculine power structure that attempts to exploit and discriminate the weak. Hopes, however, abound that there are still many women who share a strong motivation to uphold justice and equality. I also believe that corrupt men far outnumber their women counterparts.  The problem is on how to encourage more capable and qualified women to bring change to politics and how to bring a new Sri Mulyani Indrawati or Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf into politics. It is still hard for women to compete in politics when they remain discriminated against. Since the inception of the quota mechanism for women in 2008, we have not seen any significant changes in the House of Representatives. Women politicians today only account for 18 percent of the total number of House seats, far below the 30 percent quota. Despite the legal justification for the quota, many political parties failed to meet it in the 2009 elections.  Discrimination against women in politics can explain why Indonesian maternal and infant mortality rates remain high. According to the National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan), 207 discriminative bylaws are in effect in Indonesia, including those that discriminate against women. Women who pursue political careers are forced to struggle because they lack financial resources. We cannot rely solely on the quota system to empower women in politics. Training, cooperation with NGOs and activist associations, as well as developing a commitment from political parties to select quality women legislative candidates are the keys to promoting the participation of women in politics. The latter is very important. It is the crux of the problem in Indonesia. A recent research report published by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) said that many political parties in Aceh have been reluctant to recruit women candidates. They even attempted to prevent potential women candidate from running for legislative posts. Many women respondents believed there were many potential women candidates that the parties simply did not give a chance. Another fact from the report is that big parties tend to disregard women candidates, while on the contrary small parties woo them. It is unlikely that we can expect political parties to promote women politicians, let alone train or provide financial assistance to them. Women candidates have to design an autonomous strategy in order to win grassroots support and win office. In Europe, there are many movements advocating women’s empowerment in business and political fields, such as the Thirty Percent Club. They provide toolkits and training to women to become great inclusive leaders. In Indonesia, NGOs that support women’s empowerment include Women’s Empowerment Movement (GPSP), Indonesian Women’s Coalition for Justice and Democracy (KPI), Network of Women and Politics (JPP), Women Journals Foundation (YJP) and Women Solidarity (SP). The movement to empower women will not only benefit women themselves, but also the nation and political parties. Indonesia has been suffering from chronic corruption that needs a women’s touch to heal. If Indonesia can meet the 30 percent quota in the 2014 elections, the country will reach parity with mature democracies like Sweden and Norway. ●