UNAIR NEWS 鈥 The affirmative action policy requiring a 30 per cent quota for women in legislative candidacies has been in place nationwide since the 2004 General Election (Pemilu). However, by 2024, women accounted for only around 22 per cent of the members elected to Indonesia鈥檚 House of Representatives (DPR RI).
Prof Dr Dwi Windyastuti Budi Hendrarti Dra MA, Professor of Gender Politics and Representation at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP), 东京热 (UNAIR), stated that the 30 per cent quota could only be achieved if voters developed greater gender awareness. According to her, the dissemination of the 30 per cent affirmative action policy had remained largely confined to political parties. As a result, public awareness of the importance of women serving as legislators had yet to be firmly established.
鈥淲e have only reached 22 per cent, while the critical benchmark we aim for is 30 per cent. There are many factors behind this. One of them may be that the importance of women serving as legislators has never been adequately communicated to voters from a gender awareness perspective. Instead, the affirmative action policy has been promoted primarily within political parties,鈥 she explained.
Formal representation does not guarantee women鈥檚 election
Prof Hendrarti further explained that the implementation of the 30 per cent affirmative action policy had fulfilled the formal requirements of representation. The General Elections Commission (KPU) required political parties to allocate at least 30 per cent of their legislative candidate lists to women. However, she emphasised that the policy should not stop at administrative compliance alone. According to her, substantive representation also needed to be strengthened to encourage the formulation of gender-responsive public policies.
鈥淩epresentation does not end with symbolic or formal representation. Its ultimate goal is to ensure that public policies are gender-responsive,鈥 she said.
She argued that several factors had prevented women鈥檚 representation in parliament from reaching its full potential. In addition to limited gender awareness, factors such as political connections and candidates鈥 financial resources continued to outweigh women鈥檚 capacity to advocate for their rights.
鈥淪everal factors determine who gets elected. For example, some candidates are elected because they are the relatives of political leaders, the children of party leaders, or the children of prominent public figures. In many cases, established political influence remains the dominant factor,鈥 she added.
The key to women鈥檚 representation
She further emphasised that women鈥檚 representation in public policymaking was not merely about increasing the number of seats held by women in parliament, but also about ensuring that public policies were gender-responsive. Women also needed equal opportunities to contribute across strategic parliamentary commissions.
Furthermore, public policy should ideally not be gender-blind. This means that every policy should take into account its impact on and benefits for both women and men in an equitable manner.
Prof Hendrarti emphasised that women鈥檚 representation in parliament was not measured solely by the number of seats they held. Rather, women鈥檚 presence in parliament reflected accountability in ensuring that women鈥檚 voices and aspirations were represented.
鈥淲omen should be represented across all parliamentary commissions. For example, the more than 100 women serving in DPR should be distributed fairly across every commission, rather than being concentrated in just one. This would ensure that a gender perspective is reflected in policymaking. Ultimately, that is the real strategy for achieving gender-responsive policies,鈥 she concluded.
Author: Amelia Farah Putri Iswara
Editor: Yulia Rohmawati聽
