GENDER COOPTATION IN INDONESIA

Submitted in Part Fulfillment for Subject of Sociology of Literature

By Arinda Pricilla
Women are often placed as second-class citizens in a society, after their partner, the
man. However, women are always the first casualty in the life of a nation. In politics, women
do not receive proper place in the political arena. Women repeatedly opted only and not be
decisive in making policy decisions. No wonder if the political decision is always detrimental
to women in various ways. However, when a situation of disorder and political instability, the
woman was the first to fall victim. Of course we remember the tragedy of political violence
in 1965 in Indonesia, thousands of women die and become a political prisoner. As an example
of political violence in Aceh, women are victims of direct and indirect. Being direct victims,
they died as a result killed when they were unarmed, women raped and abused her right and
privilege. Indirectly women become victims when her husband killed the soldiers, which
means a widow.
The jargon of "Gender Equality" are often fought by social activists, women's up to
the politicians Indonesia. Awareness of women for gender equality is increasing as they
demand the same rights as men. Gender equality is one of our basic rights as human beings.
The right to live in dignity, free from fear and free to choose life is not only intended for men,
women also have the same right in essence. Unfortunately, until now, women are often
considered weak and only a complementary figure. Moreover, the existence of a pattern of
thinking that women's role was limited to work in the kitchen, well, take care of family and
children, so that eventually these things become unimportant.
The figure of women achievers and be able to balance between family and career to be
very rare to find. Women are often afraid to pursue a career because of the demands of her
role as a housewife. I will show the data that women are consistently more disadvantaged
than men. Here are some of the main issues of gender inequality in the various sectors that I
think still need to be addressed :

1. The pattern of a marriage that harm the women

Early marriage is a common thing in Indonesia, especially in rural areas. The United
Nations report in 2014 estimated that 13% of Indonesian women married at the age of
15-19 years. Marriage law in Indonesia regarded the man as head of household and
family breadwinners. Meanwhile, household chores including child rearing is
generally carried out by women.
2. Gender gaps in the labor market
Gender segmentation of the labor force, the practice of acceptance and promotion of
employees that are discriminative on the basis of gender makes women are
concentrated in a small number of sectors of the economy, particularly in the fields of
jobs have a lower status than men. The assumption of people who claim that women's
work is supplementary role, and only as a supplementary family income also be one
for the low level of women labor force participation.
3. Physical Violence
As we know, Indonesia has established a variety of laws to protect women from
physical violence. However, there is some evidence to suggest that violence against
women is common in Indonesia. According to the survey Demographic and Health in
2013, nearly 25% of women who had been married approved the assumption that a
husband is justified in hitting his wife for one of the following reasons: The wife
dissent, The wife went without telling the husband, The wife ignores her child, or a
wife refuses to have sex with husband.
Trafficking in women and prostitution is also a serious threat to Indonesian women,
especially those who are poor and less educated. Although sexual harassment is
considered a crime, but it is commonly found in everyday life. The Indonesian Health
Ministry in 2014 found that 60% of women claim to have suffered some form of
sexual harassment in the workplace.
4. The right of ownership
Civil Law in Indonesia stipulates that men and women have the same ownership
rights. Women in Indonesia have the legal right to access to the property, the land and
have access to bank loans and credit, even though sometimes there is still
discrimination in some parts. An example: the husband is entitled to have a personal
tax number, while the wife should put their tax number in the records of the husband.
In order to increase women's awareness of gender equality issues and educate about
their rights as women workers, regarding the campaign "Labour Rights For Women"

aimed at young women workers is not no stopping voice to educate women. Through
events and training "Labour Rights For Women" under the theme "Gender Equality",
women are expected to be more motivated to defend their rights in the opportunity to
work, the right material and the balance between family and career.
We all know gender equality should not be seen as rights and obligations of
the exact same without further consideration. It feels shame when women scream
about gender equality issues if we interpret everything must be absolutely equal to
men. Because, basically, I think the women would not be ready if it should bear the
'burden' that used to be borne by men. Or otherwise men would not be able to
complete all routine household tasks normally done by women.