Assessing Women's Role in Politics and Government

Eva Sundari, DPR member, during her presentation.

The presenters (left to right): Mr. Ganjar Pranowo (DPR member), Mrs. Ida Fauziah (DPD member) and Endang Sulastri (National Election Commission), moderated by Adriana Venny.

 "We have difficulties looking for enough qualified women parliamentarians; people are still not adequately educated in electing their representatives,” said Mr. Ganjar Pranowo, a member of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI). Mr. Ganjar was one of the speakers at a workshop on Assessing Women’s Role in Politics and Government, organized by UNDP Indonesia, January 26^th, 2009 at the Red Top Hotel in Jakarta.

This workshop is part of a wider UNDP project entitled “Women’s Participation in Politics and Government: A Support Initiative for the Women of Indonesia.” Through the compilation of a number of studies and data sets already available, in addition to a recent UNDP poll on perceptions about gender equity and women’s participation in private and public life, this initiative seeks to explore the current situation of women’s participation in public life, to identify barriers and make recommendations in order to raise the profile and obtain greater policy traction on issues relating to women’s political participation.  It aims to sharpen the focus on Indonesia’s most pressing gender equity and women’s rights issues and promote greater dialogue between key Government and civil society actors.

The workshop brought together legislators, officials from the National Commission on Violence Against Women, the National Election Commission, the Ministry of Women Empowerment, the Central Jakarta Mayor’s office, and representatives from civil society organizations to discuss the current situation of women’s participation in politics and government in Indonesia.  Workshop participants also debated recommendations for a policy paper currently being drafted by two gender experts, Dr. Farzana Bari from Pakistan, and Adriana Venny from Indonesia.

Eva Sundari, another legislator, voiced her concerns that current policies were not responsive enough towards gender disparity. “Women members are sometimes restricted by their political party to only fight for issues aligned with their party’s objectives,” she said. “However, the party’s objectives are not entirely gender responsive, and this has impeded the gender mainstreaming movement.” she said.

The Indonesian parliament has seen an increase in women legislators to 18 % in the DPR RI and 27% in the DPD RI. This increase has been the success of the women movement active during the campaign period. The movement advocated for affirmative action, to achieve at least 30 % women representation in parliament. More efforts are still required to advance this agenda in the future. In 2008, Indonesia ranked 93 out of 130 countries in the gender gap index; this is a significant from rank 81 in 2007 and rank 68 in 2006. Despite constituting almost half of the Indonesian population, women in Indonesia are still disadvantaged politically and economically.

The Policy Paper on Women in Politics and Government will be completed before the Beijing +15 Meeting in March 2010, and further follow-up discussions and dialogues are planned.

The UNDP team meeting the DPD Vice Chair Ibu GKR Hemas and selected DPD women members.