“As a woman you have to work twice as hard as men in order to be recognized.” - Dewi Coryaty

iKNOW Politics: Besides being member of the Parliament you have been also a leading figure in your party. What challenges did you face as a woman in occupying these leading positions? And how did your background enable you to stand up to these challenges?

To be a leader of the party or to assume leadership in any organization one needs specific skills, including skills of good leadership. As a woman you are also expected to compete with male leaders in as far as efficiency, education, and reaching out to your constituency …and… so on.

When women leaders are of higher caliber, male leaders will have to recognize this group of women. The challenges facing women leadership are:

Stereo-typing women as only fit for some jobs or some positions in their organization or party. Women should be able to do everything a man can do. The role of women should not be confined to their role on women empowerment issue.

Stereotyping claiming that women cannot work for long hours nor in odd hours of the day. Party activities require members or leaders to work for long hours or over the holidays, sometimes at odd hours, this means that women assuming leadership positions in the party should be healthy and physically fit, beside enjoying their families support to allow them to work according to unusual schedules.

A woman politician should demonstrate that family does not represent an obstacle for her political carrier. She should be able to run its family and domestic affairs efficiently, so that they will not be an obstacle to her political carrier. In Indonesia family goes beyond the immediate family members to include other relatives and their extended family. A woman politician should be able to adapt to other party leaders - mostly men- way of interacting socially.   

To cope with all these challenges she needs to participate in some training programs run by NGOs, civil societies, or political parties in order to enhance our skills, knowledge and potentials, and also to acquire proper education, to practice sports for a healthy body and to adhere as swell to moral and religious principles through regular religious activities, active participation in the activities of the political party. organizing party events in order to establish its presence within its constituency, getting the support of the professional work team and establish harmony between family and public duties.

I am grateful to have completed my official education while actively participating in many activities of other organizations. In spite of the necessity to move from one city to the other due to the work of my father, I am grateful also that my family supported me to do politics.

iKNOW Politics: You were active in the party for several years, what was your motivation to join the party? Can you tell us how you manage your role in the party, in parliament, in your personal and family life?

Joining the party enabled me to take an active role in the development of my country, Indonesia, and being a member of parliament gave me a better chance to achieve my goal, I can struggle more effectively in order to achieve equality of gender, and women rights in these political institutions .I can as well make a balance between my membership of parliament, and my work  with the party and my family because I firmly believe that everything I do is for God Almighty and for the welfare of the people in my country and I have the support of my constituency.

iKNOW Politics: In your opinion what are the subjects that a candidate for a public post should be aware of? What advice do you give to candidates with limited resources in societies dominated by men?

Candidates should be aware that a public career necessitates cleverness in choice of topics to focus on. When women become public servants they are more scrutinized than the male public servants.    They become role models for other women wishing to do the same. That is why we have to improve our skills and performance to prove our worth to the society. For those women candidates with limited resources in male dominated societies, I would always recommend them to improve their performance and skills by joining training programs official and unofficial ones which are organized by political parties or other political organizations. They also need a lot of self-confidence knowing that they are in politics for something important and great for their country's future.

iKNOW Politics: You have been very active as instructor in your party, what challenges did you face to occupy this position in the party? And what acquired lessons do you want to share with other women leaders?

I received my current position by being very active in the party as a national instructor, I was able to prove to the party that I am capable and resourceful, using my knowledge and skills to help develop the skills of other party members in politics. Working for a political party, you have to be sincere, smart and hard working also when working for the party, we are not doing this for ourselves but to help the party grow and develop so that it can better serve the people.

iKNOW Politics:You are also active in RI KPP which is a coalition of parliamentarian women in Indonesia uniting elected parliamentary women from different political parties to work together on women related issues in the parliament. What do you suggest for women in other countries to improve a united action by women from different political parties?

This organization or the KPPRI is a meeting place for elected parliamentarian women from different parties through which they struggle to achieve a higher participation and representation of women in the political life in Indonesia. When you become a member of this grouping, a woman has to focus more in politics for the interests of women rather  than to emphasis party interests, as a member of a party in this grouping, she negotiates and puts pressure on other parties or even its own party to achieve this objective.

While struggling for women interests we have to rely more on ourselves because we know what is best for us but we have to lead the struggle together. This is something important for women in Indonesia, a party that a member woman belongs to could have a different opinion on the issue of gender but these women could negotiate with their parties' leaders to achieve what is best for women.

iKNOW Politics: Do you think that joining networks like IKP could help women at different levels on the political scene to attain success in their careers and to mobilize their supporters on issues of common interests?

One of the most important goals of the network is to allow sharing experience of women in different countries, so that we learn from women who came up with new or improved ideas and implemented them in their own countries. It is possible that a new experience could be modified to suit the existing culture in a certain country; this exchange of experience will serve as a material for political education of other women it could be implemented as it is or be modified to suit the prevailing culture in their country.

iKNOW Politics: If you were asked to give a recommendation or advice to the members of the network in particular the women candidates or officials pursuing their careers, what would it be?

A proper role and the political participation of women in the politics are two very important factors for democracy, The women politicians know and understand –better – woman's needs and interests, this understanding makes them capable of fighting for these needs and interests and of facing challenges and surpassing the difficulties. A Woman politician needs to broaden her knowledge, skills and abilities; a lot of this can be achieved through IKP network.