UNAIR NEWS 鈥撀东京热聽Postgraduate School聽(UNAIR) held a guest lecture on聽Feminism Development and Women’s Empowerment in Fulfilling SDGs Targets聽.聽The guest lecture on Saturday, October 1, 2022, invited Prof. Aquarini Priyatna, PhD, Professor of the Faculty of Humanities, Padjadjaran University.
鈥淚’ve heard someone ask, ‘Women ask for feminism, but why is there maternity leave?’ Those are two different things,聽right, one is a human right, the other is because it is a woman’s biological response,鈥 said Aquarini, opening the discussion session.
She again emphasized that the purpose of feminism or gender equality is to consider two rights that can be experienced by both genders. “Cooking, to give a small example, is often considered a mandatory skill that a woman must have,” she said.
He continued that it is actually a form of patriarchal justification for the socio-cultural construction that occurs due to the non-fulfillment of gender equality. As a result, when a woman is not able to fulfill this justification, she will not be considered an ideal.
The importance of education
Reflecting on the case of sexual harassment recently occurred in higher education institution, Aquarini revealed the emergency of discrimination against women in education sector.聽“Not only in terms of quality, but also in terms of quantity, it shows that seven out of ten children who drop out of school are women, so we must be able to think that education can be an important agenda to achieve聽gender equality,” she explained.
To that end, Aquarini also added several things that must be done to promote empowerment of women in the education sector. It includes ensuring equal access to education, developing non-discriminatory education and training, allocating adequate resources to monitor education reform.
鈥淲e educate women (like, ed) we educate聽the whole generation because educated women will definitely ensure that those around them are educated so when we invest in women’s education, we will be able to generate much more substantial 鈥榙ividends鈥,鈥 Aquarini said.聽(*)
Author: Leivina Ariani Sugiharto Putri
Editor聽 : Binti Q. Masruroh
