|
Indonesia consists of 33 administrative provinces, each with their own political legislature and governor. The provinces are further subdivided into regencies and cities, and then again into subdistricts, which themselves are made up of several villages.
Since the advent in 2001 of a regional autonomy and decentralization process, administrative and legislative decision-making has devolved from the central government in Jakarta, to provincial, district and village levels with the aim of improving government functions, use of economic resources and public services for local communities. Regencies and cities therefore have become key administrative units, responsible for providing the majority of public services, while at the grassroots level, decisions made by village officials have the greatest impact on the daily lives of Indonesians.
The positive effects of decentralization are seeing provinces and districts better able to determine local budgets, focus on specific productive resources and economic advantages, and in many areas, improve administrative processes for citizens to better access community services. However, negative effects of decentralization have also appeared, as autonomy gives rise to newly enacted local regulations that do not always conform to, or may even contradict, national legislation or policies.
One area that appears to be seeing some adverse effects is women’s human rights. Concerns have been raised by the CEDAW Committee and Indonesian civil society groups that decentralization has led to uneven recognition and enforcement of women’s rights in different regions, and that a number of local regulations have been established that discriminate against women on the basis of culture and religion. In 2006, women’s groups identified almost 30 local regulations established in the name of religion that were discriminatory to women, including laws regulating women’s dress codes, and restricting women’s movement without the accompaniment of male family members.
Several contributing factors have been identified, among them the limited presence of women in decision-making positions at all levels, a poor awareness about gender equality and women’s rights, and about CEDAW and the state’s obligation to implementing its provisions.
Ibu Tenri Olle Yasin Limpo, is the Secretary-General of ADKASI, the Association of Indonesian Regency Legislative Councils, which regularly convenes meetings of regency councils from all over Indonesia, and provides training and capacity building for local parliamentarians on a range of governance issues. Since attending a CEDAW workshop a few years ago, she has made it a priority to integrate knowledge about CEDAW in capacity building for regency officials, and to raise awareness about discrimination against women among her peers.
“There is definitely discrimination happening at the local level, and often it is indirect, like in the labour sector” she said. “The new labour law says that women are allowed one day of leave during their menstruation – this, and also the fact that women get pregnant, has unfortunately led to many employers not wanting to hire women.”
To-date, parliamentarians in 12 Regencies from 3 pilot provinces – East Java, West Nusa Tenggara and South Sulawesi – have undergone training on CEDAW supported by UNIFEM. In addition, this was followed by further training of trainers within ADKASI to expand their reach to others.
“ADKASI trainers also offer ongoing mentoring for parliamentarians on very practical issues,” says Ibu Tenri, “like how to do gender-responsive budgeting, and how to explain to their constituencies that traditional customs must conform with existing laws.” She says that a training module has been developed that has already received good feedback – “all of it is new for them, but they find it very practical for their daily work.”
Since Women Empowerment Bureaus and Offices are being established in many provinces and districts, opportunities exist within local budgeting processes to allocate more resources to better women’s situation in areas such as improving literacy, providing small loans to agriculture collectives, and subsidizing the cost of contraceptives for the very poor. According to Ibu Tenri, when her own Regency Council of Gowa (where she is a member) discusses their budget since being CEDAW trained, they will be ‘using CEDAW like a knife’.
Ibu Tenri hopes that one effect of improving understanding about CEDAW will also be that more women are encouraged to come forward to participate in public life.
“We must use CEDAW to educate men, and women too, that women’s role is not just to get married and become homemakers. This mindset leads to parents not sending their girls to school, even though elementary to high school education is now free,” she said. “And poor education means that it is harder for women to join politics, since their credibility as candidates becomes an issue.”
She wonders with a laugh though why ‘quality always seems to be an issue only when it comes to women’, referring to the new temporary special measures that have been instituted by the government requiring political parties to include 30% of women on their candidate lists. “There are always complaints about how to fill the 30% when there are no women qualified enough to win the votes. But how do they even know this, when they don’t put women at the top of the lists to even stand a chance in the first place?”
She believes that women are sorely needed in local parliaments and also to participate in women’s community groups, to properly remove discrimination against women. Not only will they act as role models for others but they will also pay more attention to problems that are especially harmful to women such as domestic violence and trafficking, and to concerns that affect their families such as education and healthcare.
(January 2008)
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
CEDAW Champion – Ibu Tenri Olle Yasin Limpo,