IO – Deputy Speaker of the of the People’s Consultative Assembly(Majelis Permusyawaratan RakyatRepublik Indonesia – “MPR RI”)Lestari Moerdijat (“Rerie”) saidthat the MPR is making an effortto continue increasing the representationof women in the Parliament.“Increasing the representationof women in the Parliament isnot simply to push discussion offemale issues in the Parliament.Their presence will enrich the perspectivesconsidered during thecreation of laws and policies by includingthe feminine point of view,”she said.
As the proportion of male legislatorsdominate the Parliament,the policies and legal productsthat it generates are consequentlydominated by a male perspective.Improving the quality of legislativeproducts require the enrichment oflegislative products with decidedlydifferent female perspective. Therefore,Rerie continues her effort toget the stipulation of a minimumof 30% female membership in theParliament. This is rather hard, asthe percentage of women in DPRmembership for the 2019-2024term is only 20.5%.
Rerie admits that it is not easyto recruit women to participatein the current parliamentary environs.Women in Indonesia facegreat psychological, cultural, andpolitical challenges that obstructthem from being acknowledged asthe equal of their male counterparts.Therefore, everyone shouldcooperate in resolving these obstructionsand appoint more womenin legislative positions, “So thatthey can help generate better lawsthat benefit female citizens moreas a whole. Women must not beafraid to take their chance in politics,must not fear being viewed as‘imperfect’ because they can actuallycontribute to the world outsidetheir home,” she said.
For comparison, Timor Leste isthe country with the most femalemembers in the Parliament inSoutheast Asia, with 38.5% femaleproportion in 2019. This percentageis much higher than that inother countries in the region, suchas the Philippines (28%), Laos(27.5%), and Vietnam (26.7%).Myanmar and Brunei Darussalamhave the smallest female representationin their Parliaments, at only11.3% and 9.1%, respectively. (DR)