Increasing Women's Parliamentary Representation in Asia and the Pacific: The Indonesian Experience

Abstract

In recent years, governments across Asia and the Pacific have adopted gender quotas to increase women's representation in parliament. In 2003, Indonesia introduced a 30% gender quota that, over two election cycles, contributed to an increase in women's share of seats in the national parliament from 9 per cent to 18 per cent. In the most recent (2014) elections, despite stronger enforcement of the quota provisions, expansive civil society‐led efforts to support women candidates and favourable press coverage, the percentage of women elected to the national parliament declined. This article examines the evolving political context in which the gender quota operates to argue that common support programs designed to maximize the gender quota's impact on women's representation are insufficiently targeted at major obstacles. Findings will be of interest to lawmakers and public sector professionals working to advance gender equity and to students of democratization, representation and gender politics.

Modal Caleg Perempuan dan Politik Patriarkhi dalam Pemilihan Umum di Indonesia: Keterwakilan Perempuan pada Pemilu 2019 di Kabupaten Sleman

“…Beberapa studi sudah dilakukan terkait faktor penyebab rendahnya tingkat representasi perempuan tersebut, di antaranya faktor sosial, ekonomi, budaya, politik dan sejarah lingkungan politik lokal dan ideologi patriarkhis yang membentuk diskriminasi terhadap perempuan dalam politik (Rhoads 2012:35-56;Pancaningtyas 2015;Soedarwo 2014:486-95). Warisan sejarah terkait ideologi Orde Baru, masih berlakunya stereotif dan penafsiran Islam yang patriarkhis juga menjadi penyebab rendahnya perolehan suara perempuan dalam Pemilu (Hillman 2004(Hillman , 2017aBlackburn 1999;Prihartini 2019). Umumnya para sarjana menyoroti faktor struktur patriarkhi yang berpengaruh terhadap rendahnya tingkat keterwakilan perempuan tersebut dalam politik.…”

On The Same Page? Support for Gender Quotas among Indonesian Lawmakers

“…As world's third largest democracy, Indonesia's experience in improving women's representation in legislative bodies is imperative (Hillman, 2017a). Women comprise slightly over 50 percent of the Indonesian population, yet their seats in the National People's Representative Assembly (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat/DPR) is only 17.1 percent (see Table 1).…”

“…A 30 percent legal candidate quota was introduced in 2002 and implemented for the first time in the 2004 elections. However, after more than a decade, women's share in parliament is unsteady and far from the expected "critical mass" of 30 percent despite parties nominating more women to run (Bessell, 2010;Hillman, 2017aHillman, , 2017bNoor, 2014;Puskapol FISIP UI, 2014;Shair-Rosenfield, 2012). This begs the question about what is missing from the discussion of improving the proportion of women as representatives.…”

Women and Elections in Aceh: Islam and Economics Narratives Dominance

“…Although the quota mechanism does not have much effect on increasing women's representation in parliament, the effectiveness of quotas depends on their design [3]. Hilman [4] added that the implementation of the quota mechanism without the support of press coverage and women's organisations will not achieve maximum results to support the fulfillment of women's representation. In Indonesia, a 30% quota mechanism for women in political parties has been implemented in each electoral district.…”