Women, like men, are an integral part of a nation's entity. All their rights, including political rights, are guaranteed by the constitution. There is not a single article that prohibits women from being involved in political contests. In fact, Indonesia has specifically regulated women's affirmation in politics. This means that on paper, the policy on women's participation in politics is quite adequate.
However, the policy support is not enough to influence the high participation and electability of female leaders in the executive and legislative branches. In the Province of DIY for example, the number of female legislative members after the 2019 legislative election in the Province of DIY was only 9 out of a total of 55 people, or only around 16%, far from the affirmative quota of 30% women.
Gender and child profile data for DIY in 2019 in the field of politics and decision-making shows that women's participation in these fields is still low. The number of women sitting in executive, legislative and judicial institutions is still far less than men who hold important positions in politics and decision-making. The decline in IDG was contributed by a decline in the number of women in the executive where in 2018 there was a decline in the number of female sub-district heads from 10 to 8. Likewise, the number of village heads/sub-district heads in 2018 showed a decline from 45 female village heads to 42.
The data on the decline in female village heads occurred in Kulonprogo, which also shows that the number of village heads has decreased. When compared to men, the percentage of female sub-district heads and village heads is around 10%, far from the affirmation of the female quota set at 30%. The number of Regents/Mayors in DIY is only 1 out of a total of 5 regents/mayors. In the simultaneous Pilkada held in December 2020, there were only 3 women who ran as regents and deputy regents out of 18 candidates who will advance in the regional head election competition. The number of female BPD members is also still minimal, in Sleman Regency for example, out of a total of 904 BPD members, only 22 are women or around 2%.
Another fact, the involvement of women in development planning, is often only used as a complement to the involvement quota. However, the quality of participation has not been built adequately, Finally, women are only presented in meeting rooms, but do not understand what to fight for.
The problems that often occur are often within political parties as the proponents and support of constituents who are not confident enough with female leaders. Another factor is related to money politics which makes political contests less qualified, many female candidates have to give up their hopes of being elected as policy makers because of this dirty practice.
Within the party, classic problems such as low party democratization and limited opportunities for women to become part of party policy makers continue to occur. Party administrators, both national and regional, are still dominated by men. As a result, women's access to strategic ballot numbers during general elections is limited. According to data released by the conservation in the article Women and social media during legislative elections in Indonesia, the percentage of women occupying the first ballot number during the 2019 legislative elections was on average below 25%. In fact, ballot numbers are one of the determinants of the election of candidate leaders, especially during legislative elections. The policy regarding the placement of ballot numbers is on the party side, meaning that if the percentage of first ballot numbers for female candidates is still low, the party's commitment to nominating female political leaders is also still low.
Then another problem is related to the still low support for women's political leadership. Although during the 2019 nomination, the party had nominated female candidates on average at 41.2%, the electability of women was still low. According to data from the same source, the number of women elected was only 3.69%. So the quota of 30% of parliamentary seats could not be met.
Continue to Cultivate Hope
The above facts are indeed not encouraging news. However, it does not mean that the mission to realize women's leadership is thwarted. We know that there are still many cases related to women's issues and vulnerable groups that need to be resolved. And, those who understand best to resolve women's cases are of course women themselves. Therefore, women's political leadership is very important to continue to be encouraged.
Some ways that can be done include, first, encouraging democratization within the party to run. The form is by periodically restructuring the management, this is done so that the party remains healthy. Management that is not routinely restructured often creates patrons and is even close to dynasties. Patrons and dynasties have an impact on the lack of access for quality cadres, especially women to be involved in the main driving force of the party. In practice, women's representation is needed not only during nominations during elections, but must start from within the party. Participatory women's representation in the party's management allows other women to be encouraged to occupy strategic positions, both within the party and during nominations.
Then, secondly, female political cadres must also continue to build their personal branding, outside or inside parliament, elected or not elected in the election. The personal branding that is built will be more perfect if the issues played are indeed related to their expertise or capacity, so that constituents will see the personality of female political party cadres based on the quality or capacity they have. This is important to do so that political party cadres have bargaining power that can be converted into political support, or at least to introduce the mission that will be fought for to the public.
Finally, that political leadership is the right of all citizens, without gender limitations. It is time for strong women in the village, female political party cadres, if they feel they have the capacity to lead, then occupy strategic positions in each space they have. We can also show our participation by providing support to women who choose the path of political leadership.
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