Relation between Politic and Gender Privilege in Indonesia

Defita Dwinusa, student of Communication Department - International Program, Universitas Islam Indonesia



illustration by def

Political and gender issues cannot be avoided anymore. There are also many communities or movements that try to eliminate gender issues. Many people interpret that gender is simply for a difference between women and men. Even though the broader meaning of gender is not only about sexual differences, gender inequality can even occur in both women and men.

In the book entitled Gender dan Politik: Keterwakilan Perempuan dalam Politik by Dr. Rasyidin and Fidhia Aruni, the meaning of the word gender is differences in behavior, roles, attributes, and characteristics that are influenced by political, cultural, economic, religious, social, and even ethnic conditions. This gender inequality is caused by various perspectives, one of which is religion.

In Islam, women are highly respected and even exalted. However, some of the provisions that have been laid down in the Al-Quran and Hadith appear to restrict women from moving freely. Quraish Shihab (1999) states that the problem of gender equality that has arisen so far is due to a misinterpretation of religious teachings and strong patriarchal cultural factors, so that the understanding of the roles of men and women raises a variety of different opinions.

In Australian politics, historically and in the modern period, all sectors of political life such as recruitment, election and progression to the executive are dominated by men. Also, Australian society attaches privilege to white, heterosexual maleness that means linked to a form of gender – masculinity (Johnson, 2001; McIntosh, 1992).

In Indonesia, political and gender issues have recently started to flare up again because of the general election. In fact, we can see the biggest example from our presidents. Almost all of our presidents come from the island of Java and are also men. Soekarno who came from Blitar, Suharto from Bantul, BJ. Habibie who came from Parepare, Abdurrahman Wahid from Jombang, Megawati Soekarnoputri from Yogyakarta, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono from Pacitan, and Joko Widodo from Surakarta. This is enough to provide evidence that gender is a promising privilege. Megawati became the first, one and only woman president in Indonesia until now. Even, BJ. Habibie, from outside Java, became a president because of the resignation of Suharto. Also, Jusuf Kalla (2018) in a public lecture in Jakarta predicted that, “perhaps we need 100 years so that people outside Java can become president.” It is very clear that gender can help to rule the vote.

Some politician candidates emphasize their generality more than by showing the myriad of achievements they have made. Not a few who emphasize what gender is embraced and also they do not forget to offer a quote about who they are, where they come from, or tell about their family during the campaign, and promise that they will build a better world, especially for their relatives of the same gender. It can prove the sayings of Bjarnegård (2013: 18) in his book titled Gender, Informal Institutions and Political Recruitment: Explaining Male Dominance in Parliamentary Representation that said, “biological sex and social gender exist as important axes around which personal experience is mediated and social power is distributed.”

The relationship between politics and gender is very unique and exciting if the candidate is included in the majority and does not have gender inequality. It is different for those who do not have gender privileges, they must find other ways to win votes. This should be evaluated especially by the Indonesian government so that the 5th Sila which reads, “social justice for all Indonesian people” can be realized properly.

Various ways such as providing opportunities for those with quality to advance together to build this country towards a better one, evaluate regulations on gender discrimination, and also provide education from an early age so that they can accept differences can be an alternative for Indonesia to be better than before.