Recently, Yenny Wahid made into a headline with the speculation that she will be joining Democratic Party, even becoming the vice chairman of Democratic Party. This speculation is not without a base because we all know that her party, Partai Kedaulatan Bangsa Indonesia Baru (PKBIB), unfortunately, did not pass the selection for 2014 election. Yenny Wahid herself is not a new name in Indonesia politic fields. Yenny, or Zannuba Ariffah Chafsoh Rahman Wahid, is the daughter of former Indonesia President, Abdurrahman Wahid. She is also a former general secretary for Partai Kebangkitan Bangsa (PKB). But, then, she decided to establish her own political party named PKBIB with her as a chairman.
Sadly (or fortunately, by some people), on Tuesday, April 16th, 2013, Yenny Wahid has confirmed through her Twitter account (Wow…look at how technology can do nowadays) that she will not be joining Democratic Party. Her announcement also confirmed by Imron Rosyidi Hamid, the secretary general of PKBIB on the same day (nasional.kompas.com).
Yenny Wahid is one of the female political figures in Indonesia politics. Beside Yenny Wahid, we still has many other female political figures such as our former president, Megawati Soekarnoputri, and Rieke Diah Pitaloka, who widely known as an actress, that recently been nominated as the governor for West Java. These three women among with other female political figures have showed people that hey...politics is not only for man nowadays, it’s for woman too.
Unlike man, it is not easy for woman to get involved in politics. Politics described as masculine thing according to two political scientists, Susan Bourque and Jean Grossholt. They conclude that;
politics is define as masculine activity. The basis for assertions of male political dominance and the unwillingness to take female participation seriously, derives from this definition of politics. Those characteristics and enthusiasms which supposedly swayed men (war, controversy, electoral manipulation) are defined as specifically political, while those characteristics and enthusiasms which supposedly sway women (human needs for food, clothing and shelter, adherence to consistent moral principles, the pre-emption of national by human concerns, a rejection of war as rational) are simply not considered political. When women are being ‘political’ they are being more like men, and in fact, most women have learned to be just that (1974, 258).
In other words, there is no chance for a woman to get involve in politics because everything in politics is only related to man, man, and man. But, hey, time has changed! Now, thanks to feminism, woman can get involve more, not only in politics, but also in other aspects such as education, technology, and economy.
What is feminism? Basically, feminism means a certain belief about gender equality among man and woman. It means that woman has the right to have the same power, opportunities, and rights like man. The first wave of feminism appeared in 19th century and until now, there has been countless movements about this issues.
In Indonesia, we are more familiar with the term, woman emancipation. This actually has a similar meaning with feminism. Woman emancipation means giving freedom for woman to aspire their rights. If we talk about woman emancipation, obviously we will talk about Raden Ajeng Kartini, the central figure about this issue. Raden Ajeng Kartini is the one who fights for women rights in education. Thanks to her, woman can goes to school now. Kartini’s movements also inspired other women to aspire their rights in other area, including politics. The biggest achievement of Indonesian woman in politics is when Megawati Soekarnoputri became the first female president in 2001 until 2004.
Nowadays, woman involvement in politics has increased greatly. This can be shown by the increasing percentage of women representation in DPR from 9.0 % in 1999 – 2004 to 11.3 % in 2004 – 2009 (Khofifah Indar Parawansa (2005)). Beside that, the quota for female legislative members in the House of Representatives, which is 30% now, also shows a great development for woman role in politics.
As a woman, I am very proud of these achievements. It is really inspiring to see how hard woman has to struggle for the past years until they can make it now. Beside that, still talking about inspiring, believe it or not, sometimes these movements triggered me to participate something in politics. I don’t know why, but sometimes, I feel like I want to work in the government to fix this country. Wow...such a big dream that I have!!! Hahahahahaha. Anyway, who knows if I can make it despite my lack of knowledge about politics, but hey, people can learn, right?
But, at the same time, it does not mean that woman fights in politics are now finished because there are still many things that we need to improve. This includes raising woman awareness about politics. There are still many women out there, especially who lived in the village, who trapped in a stereotype that woman is only responsible for household issues, such as cooking, washing clothes, and taking care of children. These women does not really care about politics. In my opinion, to raise their awareness, those women political figures need to give them socialization about what is politics itself and what can they do to participate. No, we do not need to influence them to apply for legislative members. Start from the simplest thing first which is how to use their vote rights. By this simple thing, who knows that it can inspire them to get more involved in politics by becoming politicians, or even president? And yes, starting from this simple thing, surely we will make Kartini proud out there :)
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