Increasing Women's Political Participation is Important, Says MPR Deputy Speaker

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Deputy Speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Lestari Moerdijat has highlighted the importance of increasing women's political participation to expand their representation in public policy decision-making and realize better development.

"Realizing more women's participation in every public policy decision-making must be consistently pursued to realize better development," she said in a written statement received on Friday.

Nine in 10 women believe in the importance of political participation, yet they admit there are several obstacles to realizing it, she noted.

According to Moerdijat, the finding is based on the State of the World's Girls Report (SOTWG) published by the Plan Indonesia foundation earlier this year.

Some of the obstacles are intersectional and structural, such as age, which is considered not yet mature, and gender stereotypes.

"The other challenges vary from lack of access to decision-making, the perception of having lack (of) knowledge or skill, to other people's ideas about what is appropriate for girl adolescents," she expounded.

She stressed that due to the presence of such various and complex challenges, efforts for women's political participation need support from many parties and the right strategy.

She further highlighted that only 120, or 20.8 percent, of the 575 legislative members elected to the House of Representatives (DPR) in the 2019 general elections were women.

According to her, the figure reflects the low realization of women's representation in politics in Indonesia, considering that during the nomination phase, each political party is required to have at least 30 percent female legislative candidates.

She said she hoped that the improvement in education quality would encourage women to participate outside the domestic sector, such as in politics.

"Dissemination of information regarding the importance of women's participation in every public policy decision-making must consistently be carried out to boost the understanding of the community," she remarked.

ANTARA

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