Women's representation in Indonesia increase

Legislative elections were held in Indonesia on 5 April. Almost 150 million voters were registered in the single largest poll to be held on one day. Despite the formidable task facing the election commission, most voters who flocked to some 300,000 polling stations were satisfied with the way that the elections were managed. The fear of violence, which had loomed large due to recent skirmishes between rival party supporters, proved unfounded. Indeed, 5 April 2004 will be remembered as one of the more peaceful election days in Indonesia’s history.

In a dazzling performance, 27 women were elected to the country’s second legislative chamber, the DPD. These 27 women make up more than one-fifth of the total membership of what the media has dubbed the ‘senate’.

IDEA is particularly pleased with the result, having provided training for one-third of the elected female ‘senators’. In January 2004, IDEA conducted a ‘Training Workshop on Election Strategies for Women Candidates to the DPD’. This three-day event was attended by 28 female candidates from 27 of Indonesia’s 32 provinces. Among the elected female DPD members who participated in the IDEA training programme were university lecturers, Muslim and Christian religious activists, entrepreneurs, political party veterans, and a former police officer.

That women would win over 20 percent of DPD seats was wholly unexpected, given that, since Indonesia’s first democratic elections in 1999, a mere nine per cent of women has captured seats in the House of Representatives, and that the electoral system used for the DPD is known to be disadvantageous for women candidates.

During 2001-2003, several women's organizations pushed for the introduction of a statutory quota to guarantee the participation of women in legislative bodies in Indonesia. The debate culminated in the passage of a new Electoral Law in February 2003, which carries the provision that political parties “should consider” including women as 30 percent of all electoral candidates. While weak in its implementation, this was seen as a mild victory for the groups that had lobbied hard for quotas. However, the recent election results have shown only a marginal increase in the number of women elected, from nine to approximately 12 percent in the national legislature, the DPR, with results not yet available for the regional legislatures. The phrasing of the provision and the lack of enforcement mechanisms means that the law has had little to no effect on increasing the representation of women. More information on quotas is available at www.quotaproject.org

IDEA plans to further its partnership with women in the Indonesian parliament by convening a founding meeting of the DPD Women’s Caucus in June. This event will bring together female DPD members, as well as key civil society activists and members of the House of Representatives’ Women’s Caucus. IDEA plans to provide further support for women in the DPD until the end of 2005 including the provision of comparative material on the operation of women’s networks and caucuses in legislatures across the world and a resource point able to access comparative experience in gender issues, especially in a South-South context.