Mainstreaming Gender in Parliament

Mrs. Aryanti Baramuli, a former member.

Mrs. Nursyahbani Katjasungkana, a former member, participating in the discussion.

One of the key areas of support for the UNDP Parliamentary Support Programme is Gender in Parliament. Recently, the project has been compiling the experience of the 2004-2009 women parliamentarians from both Houses, the DPR and DPD. Conducted by one of Indonesia’s prominent gender experts, Adriana Venny, the compilation includes an analysis of the roles and contributions of women members in parliament, and recommendations on how to improve roles of women representatives in the future. The study also discusses specific aspects of the parliamentary work relevant to women, like gender and lawmaking, gender sensitive budgeting, and engendering the legislature through a parliamentary caucus on women.

To gather information and input from the 2004-2009 women members, UNDP organized three focus group discussion on October 2, October 28, and November 25, 2009, which were attended by 20 former women members. The discussion participants agreed that the ideal parliament where women and men are represented equally is still far from reality. Some participants also expressed their concerns about the fact that some women members had little knowledge about women issues or regarded them as not important to be specifically addressed. Therefore, a lack of understanding about gender issues is not only widespread among male members, but also includes women legislators. “In some standing committees, there are only around two to three members, including women, who have an adequate knowledge about gender issues. The rest of the committee members are ignorant about the issue,” said Mariani, a member from the Golkar party group.

Despite these obstacles to mainstream gender in parliament, members appreciated the support in this area international organisations like the UNDP. “The UNDP has supported the women members by building their technical knowledge, and particularly the knowledge of gender issues,” said Tumbu Saraswati, a member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle party group. “Gender issues are gradually integrated into laws and policies. If the effort is maintained, I am optimist that better results will come in no time,” she added.

Besides the compilation of experience of women parliamentarians, the UNDP’s parliamentary support also focuses on how to create a more gender responsive parliament. To this end, research has been commissioned on reviewing the institutional frameworks and work processes at both Houses. Recommendations have been made on how to creating a more gender sensitive institution. The results of both studies will be launched in early 2010, in both Indonesian and English .

The former women members actively took part in the discussion chaired by Adriana Venny.