Other Publications
Women must earn seats: First Lady
The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Mon, 09/01/2008 11:03 AM | National
First Lady Ani Yudhoyono broke her silence on political matters Saturday when she expressed her concern that women are under-represented in political parties.
"We have to admit the role of women in politics needs enhancing," Ani said after opening the First Century of Indonesian Women's Awakening exhibition at the National Monument compound in Central Jakarta.
The 2008 election law requires that political parties allocate 30 percent of their executive board seats and 30 percent of the names on their legislative candidate lists for women.
Ani said she expected women to improve their skills and to become more competent so that in the future they could occupy legislative seats purely on merit and not out of a need to meet the mandatory requirement.
Ani's statement comes amid calls by a number of House lawmakers to amend the law in order to adopt an open election system.
Political analysts and women activists have warned the amendment will reduce women's representation in legislative bodies because they say women candidates are traditionally less popular than male candidates.
Women Empowerment Minister Meutia Hatta, whose office hosted the two-day exhibition, blamed political parties for employing poor recruitment systems that catered to male candidates.
She called on political party leaders to prove their commitment to gender equality in politics by offering more legislative seats to women.
Meutia said her Indonesian Unity and Justice Party (PKPI) had registered the highest percentage of female legislative candidates for the 2009 elections. Women account for 45 percent of the PKPI's candidates.
During the exhibition, the First Lady presented awards to deputy chief justice for legal affairs Mariana Sutadi, United Development Party senior politician Aisyah Amini and historian Edi Sedyawati for their achievements.
Ani also launched a run of postal stamps dedicated to women to mark the 100th anniversary of the women's movement.
