Political citizenship
and options for women
Wawan Sobari ;
A lecturer in politics at Brawijaya University in Malang,
East Java, and is researching regional election and decentralization regimes
for his PhD at the Department of Politics and Public Policy, Flinders
University, in Adelaide, Australia
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JAKARTA
POST, 06 Juli 2014
Political citizenship entails the right to vote and exercise political
power (Marshall, 1992). In a more general sense, John Rawls (2005) affirms
that equal citizenship requires an identical position for every citizen to
have rights and liberties under the principles of equal liberty and fair
equality of opportunity. As citizens, then, women hold an equal right to men
as electors and public officials.
In Indonesia, women’s political citizenship is not a new endowment. One
day after the proclamation of independence on Aug. 17, 1945, the country
unveiled the 1945 Constitution, which ensured political citizenship for
women. Indonesia’s early government, under then prime minister Amir
Sjarifuddin, appointed SK Trimurti the first female Cabinet member, in the role
of manpower minister. In the first election in 1955, women grabbed 5.88
percent of national legislative seats.
In the 2014 legislative election, 49.92 percent of eligible voters were
women. The election results saw women win 17.32 percent of the 560 legislative
seats. Previously, the number of women lawmakers increased considerably from
8.8 percent in 1999 to 17.86 percent in 2009.
In the executive post, Indonesia had its first female president in 2001
when Megawati Soekarnoputri took office. At the local level, Indonesia had a
woman governor and eight women regents and mayors from 2005 to 2008. We could
say, therefore, that the country’s political structure is female-friendly.
Nonetheless, better political citizenship does not automatically
accelerate better gender-related development achievements. According to
Indonesia’s Gender-Based Human Development 2013, the country’s gender
development index reached 68.52 in 2012. It was indeed an improvement over
the last 10 years, but Indonesia’s gender deficit remains high.
The Human Development Report 2013 placed Indonesia 106th with 0.494
points on the Gender Inequality Index. The report indicated that Indonesian
women still have to deal with the loss of development achievements in
reproductive health, empowerment and labor participation. The maternal
mortality rate reached 220 per 100,000 live births in 2010. The portion of
the female population with at least a secondary education was only 36.2
percent (2006-2010). The female labor force accounted for only 51.2 percent
in 2011.
Both presidential candidate pairs contesting the July 9 election have
addressed gender-related issues. Prabowo Subianto-Hatta Rajasa have said they
would provide effective protection for women and enhance the institutional
status of the Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry. Joko
“Jokowi” Widodo-Jusuf Kalla have expressed their commitment to the
empowerment of women in politics and development.
Both presidential contenders offer progressive platforms to address
gender inequality. However, they have to realize that the implementation of
gender-related policies is also part of the local government domain. My
observations in gender-related development policies at the local level
reveals that regional governments implement poor gender-mainstreaming
policies. They perform minimal gender-specific assessments and considerations
in designing local development policies (gender-blind planning).
Specific acknowledgement of distinctions between men and women in many
areas of development policies, particularly in education and economic
policies, is rare. The only gender-specific policy considering the practical
needs of women is related to women’s role as a maternal group, such as
reproductive health programs. Other specific policies concern women’s
protection against domestic violence and the establishment of
semi-governmental organizations to assist female victims of domestic
violence.
Furthermore, the efforts to redistribute the gender imbalance in
development planning are focused mainly on single-sex intervention. Local
governments usually implement gender-redistributive policies through
interventions to raise women’s awareness of gender equality and empowerment
via familiarization programs and training.
This disadvantageous development setting for women is linked to
decentralization regulatory regimes. Law No. 32/2004 on local government and
its two implementing regulations (government regulations No. 38/2007 and No.
41/2007) deem women’s empowerment as devolution. Local governments, then,
implement women’s empowerment delegated authority as a gender-redistributive
authority, not as gender mainstreaming in local development planning that
encourages strategic gender interests.
Moreover, the home minister regulates local budgeting by issuing
Ministerial Regulation No. 13/2006 on the manual of local financial
management. The regulation determines local financial account and local
expenditure classification codes based on local governments’ functions or
delegated authorities. The regulation, indeed, does not employ gender
mainstreaming or gender difference perspectives in local budgeting.
Accordingly, both presidential candidates should reconsider their
platforms on gender-related issues by evaluating decentralization regulatory
regimes to affirm better gender-related policies and planning. The elected
president, then, has to harmonize the Home Ministry and Women’s Empowerment
and Child Protection Ministry in addressing gender-related issues.
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