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Jokowi urged to realize promises on women's protection

Jakarta Post - February 8, 2015

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Jakarta – Rights group Indonesian Women's Network (JPI) has called on President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to realize promises to provide non-discriminatory legal protection for Indonesian women that he made during his presidential campaign.

"We demand the fulfilment of the government's promises to give protection to Indonesian women through non-discriminatory laws and legal changes," said rights activist Valentina Sagala as quoted by Antara news agency in Jakarta on Sunday.

She was speaking during a joint statement event at the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) headquarters.

Valentina said currently many discriminatory regulations that had not been dealt with by the government had led to the presence of bylaws that were discriminatory in nature against women, such as the Jember Regional Council (DPRD)'s proposal for the adoption of a virginity test for female high-school would-be graduates.

"The DPRD in Jember has proposed a virginity test for female students before they can graduate," said Valentina, the chairperson of the Pro-Women Prolegnas Network (JKP3).

Lilis Lisnawati, who represents the group Indonesia Diverse, said the state involvement in women's protection that President Jokowi had promised during his presidential campaign must be realized. During Jokowi's first 100 days in power, she said, many critical issues concerning women's protection had been put on the back burner.

Citing examples, Lilis said the Jokowi administration had not yet sufficiently addressed Indonesia's maternal mortality rate, which stands at 359 per 100,000 live births, or the forced marriage of children aged less than 14 years that posed high risks to women's reproduction health.

"These issues have not been given adequate attention by the Jokowi administration and up till now, there is no clear government agenda to prevent and tackle these problems," said Lilis.

Meanwhile, the National Network for Domestic Worker Advocacy (Jala PRT) highlighted the issue of Indonesian domestic helpers' work conditions, which the group say are far from proper.

"We rate very low Manpower Minister Hanif Dhakiri, as we consider the minister has failed to provide adequate protection for female workers in both the domestic and industrial sectors," Jala PRT executive director Lita Anggraini said. (ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/02/08/jokowi-urged-realize-promises-women-s-protection.html.