Inside Indonesia

This comment refers to
www.insideindonesia.org

Throughout history, Indonesian women’s movement has been limited. In the past, Indonesian women had no freedom in most of educational programs and technology development. Their daily life was only on housekeeping, this seems to be unfair for them, whereas the men were keeping in progress.

I felt a pity to the past women, beside the noble and rich women, most of the ordinary women were considered as “tools”. “3R” was the most popular abbreviation at that time in my hometown. It stood for “sumur, dapur, kasur” which meant well, kitchen, bed respectively.

It meant women were only used as a servant to pick water from the ‘well’, they were treated as servants to work in ‘kitchen’, and they were only used as tools to satisfy men’s desire in sex relationships.

Nowadays, women have broken their old stereotypes; they are now one step further than before. I must be thankful and appreciate to Kartini, the hero and the pioneer that struggled for women’s right; she was the greatest aspiration for women. She struggled until her end, to lift the women’s value.

Women became advanced, it is proved by so many women’s organizations, and women have contributed their voices and persisted to their principle. And I can say that most of women in Indonesia start to pass over the men, for example Megawati, the first Indonesian’s woman president, and also women start to work in men’s area, and most of top class students are girls.

I assume the fastest development women was in Soekarno’s era (longest-term president), because I saw a big concentration of women’s organization rising that time. Then they evolved much better nowadays, even they played important role in “malestream”

The strengths of women were also reflected when Soekarno collapsed, the organizations stood still and keep in progress, that was a good thing. In era of new order, I was impressed with some organizations such as, “Gerwani” and “Dharma Wanita”. Their willing to set forward protests about politics of marriage, and religions was very thick; though some of them were assassinated and be tortured, they stood up to hold their principles.

Now, the government fully acknowledges the freedom of women, it was the sweetest fruit from women’s effort. Ministry of empowerment of women was created. But I think their wars haven’t reached the end. Diversity between indigenous women and Chinese one is their last enemy, that now they still fight with. However they are now facing their new freedom with a mixture of exhilaration and trepidation.