By Ciara Ann Murphy, Volunteer at LRC-KJHAM from Australia
The low level of women involved in politics is a global issue. At the current rate, it will take 130 years for gender equality to be achieved in the highest positions of political power according UN Women and only 31 countries have either a woman Head of Government or a woman Head of State.
Why is this important?
If gender equality in politics is not achieved, it is unlikely that gender equality will be fully implemented in other aspects of life, such as socially or economically, as those making the decisions in parliament related to women’s issues are disproportionate compared to everyday life. In Indonesia for example, women make up approximately 49.6% of the country’s total population but only 21.9% of seats in parliament, according to the OECD. 2019 was the first year in which the number of women elected to Indonesia’s national parliament exceeded the 20% mark, a marked increase since 1999 when the figure was 8.8%. If we want to solve issues such as domestic violence, public safety and social unrest it is far more likely to occur if gender equality is achieved in politics, as those working in parliament are given the responsibility to make decisions on behalf of the population. If women are underrepresented in political positions, they will likely be underrepresented in many more aspects.
History of women’s political representation in Indonesia
The first democratic election was held in 1999 and saw very low numbers of seats won by women. Following this, a quota was introduced in 2003 that required political parties to consider making 30% of their nominated candidates women. However, this law lacked any non-compliance regulations and was overall ambiguous in its wording, which as a result only resulted in a marginal increase of female candidates. This was revisited in 2008 wherein the law was strengthened by requiring political parties have one in every three candidates be a woman and include 30% of women in their executive boards, with electoral commissions verifying compliance. This helped to increase women’s political participation to 17.8% in 2009. While this had been a positive change, not much progress has been made in the following years.
Why does representation remain low?
Women face obstacles in the public and private spheres which may make it difficult to achieve true gender equality in politics. Notably, societal attitudes and the patriarchy still hold strong beliefs that men are more capable at being political leaders. Women are often seen as too emotional or not powerful enough to take on these roles. Men are viewed as more capable of handling issues such as finances, security, foreign affairs and development. Societal norms of women being married and taking care of their children in the home prevents them from even having the time or resources to even consider being a political candidate, let alone being elected as one. Unfortunately this is so engrained in society, far beyond Indonesia that it is unlikely to significantly change in the near future. Furthermore, this role of women in society results in them being less involved in the professional and social networks used to build up support and influence votes.
However, women accounting for high percentages of seats in politics does not necessarily translate to gender equality in all aspects of life. For example, Rwanda holds the highest percentage of women in politics at 61%, much higher than countries such as the United States, Singapore and Australia. However, in everyday life women in Rwanda still face discrimination and feminism is still viewed in a negative light. One reason for this may be that the women that hold power in office do not stand for a progressive feminist agenda and are instead anti-feminist and conservative.
Therefore, it matters not only how many women are in parliament to enact change, but also what their belief systems are. The culture of how women are treated outside of politics still needs to be changed in order to achieve true gender equality.
It is clear that Indonesia has made significant progress since the first democratic election as well as the world as a whole, there is still work to be done. We must continue to focus on this issue and help women around the world to overcome criticism, barriers and stereotypes they may face when becoming involved in politics.