A new attitude toward the fight against poverty has seen three cities encourage public participation in policy-making and design budgets that embrace women and the underprivileged.
The government of Indonesia recently endorsed a law which states that all political parties should include a minimum of 30 percent of women among their candidates for members of parliament.
60 Acehnese power women, supported by a delegation of their "sisters" from Finland, took part in a seminar on political participation of women in Banda Aceh recently.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Thursday reiterated the government's commitment to prioritizing women's empowerment and gender issues in development programs, and called on Indonesian women to develop their potentials.
The General Elections Commission said on Monday that now that it has the government’s support, it plans to stand firm on its proposal that a government regulation-in-lieu-of law be issued to ensure that a minimum number of women are elected in the national legislative elections on April 9.
Under pressure from the women groups and activists, the Electoral Commission, or KPU, has proposed to issue its own regulation enabling a quota system to ensure that one in every three elected lawmakers — as opposed to candidates — be a woman, since hopes that the government might issue an emerge
Ahead of Indonesia's April elections, female candidates are knocking on doors, making Facebook "friends" and even singing at circumcision ceremonies to break the male stranglehold on parliament.
Besides the absence of political will to comply with the legally required quota for women on candidacy lists, the verdict of the Constitutional Court ruling on the majority vote system has dashed the hopes of women seeking to gain 30 percent of seats at the provincial and regency level for the co
They were a real political loss, as female candidates who many were former activists failed to win the elections, she said. "It turns out what we called the women movement is really fragile.