INDONESIA: Female condom programme falters

http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73983

JAKARTA, 28 August 2007 (PlusNews) - Ningsih [not her real name], 22, was taken aback when she was handed a pack of two female condoms in Jakarta, capital of Indonesia, but was even more surprised when she opened one. Measuring 17cm long and 7cm in diameter with a sponge attached inside, the female condom is indeed large compared to a male condom.

"My, it's so huge. Will it be painful using it?" asked the self-professed freelance sex worker, who was hanging out at a sidewalk stall in the Pramuka area of East Jakarta, a well known pick-up spot.

She told IRIN/PlusNews she was not willing to try the female condom; she was fine with a tri-monthly contraceptive injection, which kept her from getting pregnant.

What about sexually transmitted infections (STIs)? "I heard condoms might prevent that, but most of the clients don't want to use them, and I don't dare to insist, although I sometimes provide them," she said. "If a client ejaculates inside me I wash with Betadine," she added, referring to a popular feminine hygiene product.

Indonesia has worked hard to increase condom use but, hampered by a strong patriarchal culture and a sporadic approach to promoting them, the results have been disappointing.

Data from the nonprofit public health organisation, Family Health International, puts Indonesia at the bottom of a list ranking condom usage in Asian countries.

According to official statistics from June 2007, the country's HIV infection rate has reached around one percent, with 5,813 recorded cases of people living with HIV and another 9,689 people living with AIDS, but experts estimate that the real number of HIV-infected Indonesians is between 90,000 and 250,000 out of a population of 223 million.

While HIV infection rates are highest among injecting drug users (IDUs), sex workers and their clients, government officials estimate that 20 percent to 30 percent of infections occur during unprotected sex.

"We've done campaigns to increase [male] condom use and failed. We're facing an alarming situation at the moment, with the general population becoming infected," Sri Kusniyati, deputy secretary of the National AIDS Commission, told IRIN/PlusNews

HIV infections have already become generalised in the easternmost province of Papua. In this remote mountainous area, where levels of awareness are low and condoms difficult to access, more than two percent of the 2.5 million population are estimated to be HIV-infected.

Some encouragement

The government ran a trial of female condoms in selected areas of Papua in August 2006. According to Kusniyati, women who tried the condoms said they and their husbands enjoyed using them.

Encouraged by the positive feedback from the trial, the government launched a national female condom programme in February 2007. Six months later, however, the programme has been criticised for poor distribution and supply, the high price of the condoms (15,000 rupiahs, or US$1.60 for a pack of two), and even for discriminating against women.

"It has been a year since the female condom was distributed in Papua but, until today, not even one condom can be accessed by our group and we're based in the provincial capital [Jayapura], not in a remote area," said Robert Sihombing of the Jayapura Support Group, a local organisation that provides food packages, financial assistance and emotional support to local people living with HIV/AIDS.

Activists have slammed the programme for, once again, putting the burden on women. "The campaign against HIV/AIDS in this country is often discriminatory," said activist Mukhotib MD from Magelang, a city in Central Java Province.

"In East Nusa Tenggara Province [in the eastern portion of the Lesser Sunda Islands, consisting of 550 islands], for instance, fishermen are called on not to have sex with sex workers without using a condom, but there's no mention in the campaign of not having sex with their wives without using condoms," he said.

"We're afraid that 10 years from now, if HIV infections remain uncontrolled, then women will be blamed, when in fact it's the whole problem of social construction which positions men with the rights to sex and women with the duty to serve them," Mukhotib added.

Kusniyati, of the National AIDS Commission, said the female condom programme was launched to give women more options and to empower them, not to discriminate against them. The Commission was currently training campaigners in six provinces, not only to promote female condoms but also to increase knowledge of HIV/AIDS.

The price of female condoms remained relatively high because they had to be imported, Kusniyati admitted. "We need to push for cooperation with the state Family Planning Coordinating Body, which provides contraceptive products, including condoms, for poor people ... [but it] will only launch a female condom programme some time in 2008."

Hera Diani

Labels: HIV/AIDS, women's right

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Female activists face violence

Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

After taking on cases of violence against women for the past five years in her hometown in West Nusa Tenggara province, activist-cum-lawyer Beauty Erawati said she was ready to call it quits and switch to a more secure job.


By more secure, she meant no more unwelcome guests coming to her house, throwing stones or threatening her with swords or sickles; no more being called a promiscuous widow, or receiving sexually intimidating phone calls and pictures.

"My family has asked me to move to Jakarta where it's supposed to be safer. To be honest, I'm ready to give up. But then another case comes up and I feel the calling again," Beauty, who works for the West Nusa Tenggara branch of the Association for Indonesian Women for Justice, LBH Apik, told a seminar here Monday.
Beauty is one of many women in the country who risk their lives as human rights defenders.

They include labor activist Marsinah, who was raped and murdered. And Ita Martadinata, murdered after calling for an investigation of the abuses against Chinese-Indonesian women in the 1998 riots. Police determined the murder was not related to her activism, but fellow activists believe it was. And Mama Yosefa from Papua, who was brutally interrogated and kept in a room full of human excrement for her role in leading a rally.

There is also Suciwati, who has been fighting for justice over the murder of her husband Munir Said Thalib, a noted human rights activist who was poisoned on a flight from Jakarta to the Netherlands in September 2004.
Like Beauty, Suciwati has received threats, ranging from bombs to blackmail.
"Yet, impunity remains. We have to change this. We are tired of violence," Suciwati said at the seminar.

A study by the National Commission on Violence against Women from November 2005 through August 2006 showed that women human rights defenders are much more vulnerable to violence and discrimination than their male counterparts.
The study was a result of a series of discussions with 58 female activists all over the country.

Specifically, it found they are vulnerable to sexual violence, including rape, sexual torture, sexual harassment and stigmatization.
Rape is an especially effective weapon, and thus rape or threats of it are employed often.

"Sexual violence also includes the corrosion of women's credibility based on their marital status. That 'good' women are those who marry and obey norms of patriarchy. Unmarried activists are then labeled as old maids, lesbians, man-haters, and full of rage," said commission member Saparinah Sadli.

Female activists are attacked in their roles as mothers, wives and daughters, and some are silenced when their children and families become the targets of threats.
Activists in the seminar urged the government to ensure protection for women human rights defenders and to end impunity for perpetrators.

Elisabeth Rehn, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for the Human Rights Situation in the Balkans, said if perpetrators were not put on trial, it was impossible to achieve truth, justice and reconciliation.

"As Indonesia resumes membership in the UN Security Council next year, it is in a position to address the issue," she said.

Labels: women's right

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Susanti Ariyanti, Seeking better protection for migrant workers

Friday, August 25, 2006
Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Being critical is both curse and gift for migrant worker turned activist Susanti Ariyani.

Her past experience as a migrant worker has earned her respect in her fight for the rights of fellow workers and their families, especially when dealing with ignorant officials or the police.

The 27 year-old native of Cirebon, West Java, a four-hour drive east of Jakarta, recollected the hostile treatment she endured from the officials of a labor recruitment agency here and her employers at the destination countries.

It all started around five years ago when she was short of money to finance her diploma course in Bandung, West Java. Her parents could not afford to pay the university fees and the payment she received from tutoring fellow students in English was no longer enough to cover the expenses.

So, Susanti took leave from the university and went home to her parents' village, some four hours from Bandung. There, she found brokers from recruitment agencies hanging around like vultures, trying to lure villagers, who have little money, to work abroad as -- at most -- domestic workers.

"I didn't have any other alternative ... so I decided to give it a try," she said in a recent interview with The Jakarta Post, on the sidelines of a seminar on migrant workers held by the National Commission on Violence Against Women.

Arriving in Jakarta in the middle of the night, at a labor-supply agency -- which trains and sends workers abroad -- Susanti discovered human rights abuses, irregularities in recruitment procedures and document forgery.

"I had to strip almost naked for a physical examination, along with several others. The doctor was a woman but still ... When I protested, she just said that's the way it was," said Susanti, a devout Muslim who wears a headscarf.

She went on to protest about everything: the false data on her documents, an abrupt decision to send her to Singapore instead of Hong Kong for no apparent reason, and the so-called training which was very short (three days) with practically nothing being taught.

"Every time I protested, I was scolded. They said I was too vocal," said Susanti, who is very articulate and speaks nearly perfect English.

As a consequence, the agency postponed her placement and made her wait without any certainty of getting work abroad. The agency saw her tutorial potential and she was ordered to teach English to her fellow trainees and to work as a maid at one of the officials' homes.

"When I asked for a salary, he got angry and threatened not to give me the job (abroad)," she said.

After four months, Susanti was finally sent to Singapore, only to find that her employer made her work 18 hours nonstop every day, with limited food and no day off.
"I was forced to wash the walls every day as well as the windows on the balcony of the apartment, which was on the 26th floor. Once I said it was no use cleaning the windows every day because it was the rainy season... and she locked me in a tiny storage room for 10 hours," she said.

Five months later, she suffered a collapse in the bathroom, and was sent back to her agent.

Susanti then found a second employer, a couple whom Susanti was extremely grateful to for their understanding and kindness. Not only did they bail her out from the agent for breaking the contract early with the first employer, but they gave her weekends off plus extra money and taught her how to use the Internet.

Her employers moved to Australia and Susanti, who refused their offer to go along with them, went home, determined to finish her delayed course.

Back at the university, she said, she found that people really looked down on her because she had worked as a domestic helper.

"I told them it was not an ordinary job," said Susanti, considering how women's lives and honor were at risk while working abroad.

"I remember how my friends are in debt to their agents; how they suffer physical abuse... and rape. All this is faced while trying to improve their lives. People have no choice but to work abroad because our country is poor, but migrant workers are not appreciated," she said.

After completing her study, she was offered a job with a non-governmental organization in her hometown that helped migrant workers. Suspecting that the organization might not be credible, she turned it down initially before giving in.
She was sent to a series of seminars and workshops and underwent training.

"I was stunned to find a number of regulations and conventions on workers ... but that they are still unprotected. From then on, I realized that it's our own efforts -- the workers' -- that will help us," she said.

While money was not an obstacle anymore for her, thanks to her former employer's generosity in teaching her how to invest, Susanto felt so frustrated with unscrupulous officials and the lack of law enforcement that she decided to seek work abroad again; this time in Hong Kong.

Employer number three turned out to be the same as employer number one. But Susanti has learned many things about organizational and campaigning skills.

"The Hong Kong government imposes strict regulations and migrant workers feel more protected. I have also learned a lot from my Filipino friends who are, unlike Indonesians, more organized. Indonesians don't really care about other people's fate as long as they are fine," she said.

Her last venture abroad lasted less then a year. She went home and has since become a full-time activist with the Cirebon-based Forum for Migrant Workers and Families (FWBMI) which was established in 2000.

"We aim to form a community organization, to empower migrant workers and their families, to familiarize them with legal and health issues, and so on. We also ask wealthier former migrant workers to subsidize others in the form of cooperation. Right now we are also working on a permit to establish a school for former migrant workers. But the government is very bureaucratic," she said.

Other obstacles encountered in the campaign, she said, were that they still lacked funding and that people were still suspicious about their mission.

Susanti said that the forum had worked on 190 cases, one-third of them were settled. Rape cases have risen significantly. Workers who suffer sexual abuse will bring home their "unwanted" babies and find they are not accepted by their families.

"Rape cases mostly happen to women working in Saudi Arabia. It is very easy to go there, you know. Demand for workers is so high that work documents are already prepared beforehand for any applicant to use right away," she said.

She said Indonesia should follow the recruitment system adopted by the Philippines where the government tightly scrutinizes the data in the documents to minimize fraud. The government is very mindful about sending only skilled, fully-trained workers abroad.

"People really push the government to protect migrant workers. Labor organizations there are also united, and legislators really represent the people.

Susanti said she was still willing to work abroad, particularly in Canada, reputable among destination countries for upholding protection for migrant workers.

Her overseas venture this time -- should it materialize -- will carry a mission to push forward her cause.

"I'll have time to study. And I also want to strengthen migrant workers organizations in other countries," she said.

Labels: Film, women's right

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RI women's movement confronts challenge of religious right

Saturday, April 22, 2006
Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The landmark year 1998, with the bloody May riots, the mass rape of Chinese-Indonesian women and the fall of the Soeharto regime after 32 years of authoritarian rule, was a tumultuous turning point for social movements in the country.

Included among them were women's rights groups, with outrage at the rapes triggering a renewed sense of activism. Issues of violence against women and women's political rights came to the fore.

In hindsight, chairwoman of the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) Kamala Chandrakirana says many non-governmental organizations were thrust into a confusing state of unprecedented change after many years of repression.

"NGOs had been around for over two decades by then, but they were not used to organizing big scale activities. And then suddenly everyone could voice their rights independently. NGOs then had to redefine their identity," she said Wednesday.

The organizations also faced internal issues, she added, suddenly having to learn to be democratic within themselves.

Eight years on, Kamala said the women's movement was still dealing with confusion and "disorientation", like the rest of the country in the haphazard transition to democracy.

"Democratization is an ongoing affair. But I see a lot of improvement within women's activism, such as the accountability system has started to be established, and the issue of conflict of interest and ethics also have been addressed," she said.

"But it has to be appreciated that the movement has been vibrant and growing. There are multiple faces of the women's movement emerging, not just antiviolence and political rights. There is the whole new, young generation coming up. We have reason to be confident it is happening."

Milestone have been achieved, she said, such as several laws, including one on domestic violence, supportive of women's rights.

However, Adriana Venny of Jurnal Perempuan (Women's Journal) said that despite the strong network of the women activists in the country, there was still much that needed to be done for women's equality.

"It's good that we have affirmative action as well as the law on domestic violence. But there are many things we don't have, such as laws on sexual harassment, witness protection and many others."

Activist and legislator Nursyahbani Katjasungkana of the Nation Awakening Party is concerned the women's movement is divided instead of integrated, and seems to be working from project to project instead of along a long-term, goal-oriented plan.
She also feared the struggle for women's political representation appeared to have fallen by the wayside after the 2004 general election.

"Yet the activists need to fight more for political rights, so that there many women in the legislative body who, of course, 'understand' women's rights. It's time for the women's movement to unite and find the 'common enemy'."

Many activists agree the clearest example of the latter is growing religious radicalization, which, as Kamala believes, wants to impose a monolithic idea of Indonesian women in society.

In recent months, there has been a concerted push for the passage of the pornography bill by religious hardliners, as well as the enactment of a number of bylaws that single out women for punishment, including on how they dress in public, interaction with the opposition sex, even to imposing limits on what time they can be in public places.

"The pornography bill is not about pornography at all, it attacks women's identity. This is such a big challenge. It is not only a problem for women, but through their (radical groups) efforts to control identity of women, they also redefine the nation. Yet we are a diverse nation," Kamala said.

In meeting the challenge, Venny said women's groups were divided on "sensitive" issues like pornography, abortion and lesbianism. "Whereas we have to be critical when we see the issue of morality," she said.

Kamala said women activists must make the country's diversity a focus of their stance in facing the challenge of the groups, and uphold the Constitution providing rights for all.

"The battle is now in the regions where the bylaws emerged," she said.
Muslim scholar and women's movement observer Nazaruddin Umar said the activists must use the same language in taking on the hardline groups extolling persuasive moral arguments.

"They have to use religious language to show that every religion is in fact fair to women. Work together with the ulemas on this issue. The family planning program was a failure until it involved ulema in the campaign," said the professor of Islamic studies at the Islamic State University.

The State Ministry for Women's Empowerment also has to do more for women's rights, she added..

"It is good that we have such a ministry, but so far, it doesn't function well. It has to improve its performance."

Labels: religion, women's right

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Adapting Koran to current realities

Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

For a 34 year-old, Muslim preacher-cum-gender activist Siti Ruqoyyah Ma'shum has been through more than most women her age in the marital department.
Growing up and living in the strict Islamic boarding school surroundings of the small, poor regency of Bondowoso, East Java, Ruqoyyah was forced to marry a son of her father's cleric colleague when she was barely 15 years old.
Arranged since she was a toddler, the marriage, however, ended in divorce as her husband and his family could not accept the fact that Ruqoyyah was as a better and more popular preacher than her ex-husband, she said.
She moved on to husband No 2. A well-educated politician and seemingly pious, he turned out to be an abusive partner who also practiced polygamy. The second marriage also ended, but not after Ruqoyyah said was a long, agonizing and discriminatory process in the religious court.
For many women it is often through these bitter, first-hand experiences that they realize the continuing discrimination practiced against their sex. The difference with Ruqoyyah, however, was she wanted to make sure other women around her would not have to go through the same fate.
Ruqoyyah uses regular Islamic gatherings not only as the venue to spread Islamic teachings but also as an opportunity to campaign for gender equality and equity.
"I regularly teach all-woman congregations, from children to the elderly. Apart from preaching, I also make myself available to them for consultations on anything, from religious issues to marital problems. This is where I familiarize gender issues to them," said the softly spoken activist.
Islamic boarding schools are places where the patriarchal culture is deeply entrenched, but Ruqoyyah benefits from her position as a respected figure, given her experience in preaching.
"It's a matter of a good approach. We can't just use sophisticated gender terms -- we need to explain the substance. We must not confront (the ulema), but instead be very well-mannered, and respectful -- especially to the elderly clerics," she said.
Ruqoyyah's approach has won the heart of many male clerics and she is often invited to preach to all-male congregations as well. Despite a strongly chauvinistic culture, with polygamy practiced widely, many ulema were not resistant to her progressive ideas, she said.
However, other ulema had challenged her by attacking her campaigning when they shared podiums, attempting to discredit her and her ideas.
"I usually come to them, asking them not to attack me in public, because that means deceiving people. There is a change, somehow. At least some preachers don't use sexist humor that much anymore," she said.
Ruqoyyah first rose to prominence as a preacher in 1989 as her then father-in-law saw her potential and nurtured her, teaching her public speaking and sometimes asking her to be his substitute.
"My late father was well educated; he graduated from Al Azhar University, Cairo. But he still bowed to the patriarchal culture in the boarding school," said the mother of a teenage son.
Her father-in-law's attention, however, sparked her first husband's and relatives' jealousy, who said it was unethical for a woman to outshine her husband.
Other challenges also came from women who, being mistresses or other wives, condemned Ruqoyyah's progressive ideas.
"I let them be. I just let women know their own rights and the consequences of their choices. I don't teach women to be harsh to their husbands, or ask second wives for a divorce.
"On the other hand, if women accept polygamy, I always tell them not to whine or speak ill of their husbands but accept their situation," she said.
Ruqoyyah fought back against her second husband who, she said, frequently beat her, did not give her financial support, sexually assaulted her and eventually married another woman while he was still married to Ruqoyyah.
Only then did Ruqoyyah realize how insensitive and sexist the legal system was here to a woman filing for divorce. The process was lengthy, the judges and lawyers smirked at her, and when the process was finally completed after three years, there was no alimony -- the foregone conclusion when a woman files for divorce.
"That's why many women who are financially dependent on their husbands never file for a divorce, no matter what. There are many weaknesses in our legal system with regard to women ... But I wanted to at least show (people) that nobody is above the law and no one can treat women unjustly," Ruqoyyah said.
Single now, she is actively involved in several organizations, including Puan Amal Hayati and the Wahid Institute, which are affiliated with Nahdhatul Ulama (NU), the largest Muslim organization in the country, as well as women's organizations such as Rahima.
The frequent training and workshops provided by these organizations have made her articulate in conveying her ideas about the issues of contemporary Islam. She also hosts a regular radio program on Islam and gender, travels around the country and has also been to the United States for an interfaith dialog.
Her hometown, the poor Prajekan village in Bondowoso, however, is where her heart is.
Asked about the toughest case she had ever been involved in there, Ruqoyyah said it was when a grandfather raped his granddaughter and the fifth-grader became pregnant.
The girl's family came to Ruqoyyah for help as there was no institution helping to empower women in the town.
Ruqoyyah advised the family to allow the girl to abort the child, although local ulema condemned this as haram (unlawful and sinful).
"Sometimes local figures are insensitive and follow the (religious) texts too strictly. But this girl was so young, she had a long journey ahead of her. We couldn't marry her to the father, either, as it was her grandfather, and besides, the pregnancy was only one month old," she said.
A clinic they went to objected the abortion at first, but then agreed to do it free of charge, as the family was poor.
The girl is still at school and is a regular member of religious gatherings led by Ruqoyyah.
The grandfather still lives in the area, although he has been ostracized by the local community.
"People need us to provide solutions. In a case like that, we cannot preach. I often tell my congregation that religious texts cannot be changed, particularly the Koran. But the interpretation can and must be adapted to current realities," she said.
Her sincere wish is to return to her school, delayed because of her forced marriage.
"I always tell my son when he's lazy to go to school, look at ummi (mom); I'm old but I'm eager to go back to school," she said, laughing.

Labels: Islam, profile, women's right

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Ad images, and society, still give women no respect

Sunday, April 18, 2004
Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The composite impression of the Indonesian woman in advertising in 2004 is that she is not so strong, certainly not invincible but she does suffer gladly and lives to please.
Some choice examples.
* An undeniably pretty young woman is still (somehow) sentenced to be the perennial wallflower until her skin is transformed several shades lighter. Oh, and make that wavy hair super straight.
* A wife sighs and smiles at her endearingly sloppy and unhelpful husband. Men, you gotta love 'em.
* What does a hungry boy find when he goes home from playing outside? There is go-getter mom, finding the time to do a quick batik pattern in between her household chores.
And more: Husband shouts at wifey to find his jacket, a bride freaks out as she cannot cook while hubby is a hog, a husband and his friend do a leering "the 'milk' is just right" as buxom mom hovers in the kitchen.
By and large, these representations -- sexist, stereotypical and seeming to hark back to a bygone age of the totally dependent woman -- continue to dominate the market.
The message is that femininity means becoming flawless beauties (skinny, straight hair and fair-as-can-be skin) through product consumption, using coquettish body language to attract the opposite sex and maintaining an aura of feminine innocence to remain sexy.
Of course, sex sells. But what on earth are a couple of scantily dressed women doing in a car paint ad?
According to Jean Kilbourne, an American activist against advertisements causing negative societal impact, the sexual images tie the product with women's basic desires, as if by buying the product, they are going to get not just sex, but love.
"Sexualizing women contributes to creating a society that has less trouble digesting violence against women. Ads also create impossible standards for women to live up to," said Kilbourne, a writer and award-winning documentary filmmaker, on the Internet.
Jeanny Hardono, creative director of Lowe Lintas, the local branch of Lowe Worldwide ad agency, acknowledged that using women's sexuality was the easiest way to create an ad.
"I believe that happens not only here, but all over the world as well," she told The Jakarta Post.
"Here, I must admit, advertisements still objectify women. Perhaps because not everyone is aware of a gender perspective, and the gender issue has yet to be on the agenda nor become a reference for advertisers and ad agencies," Jeanny told The Jakarta Post.
It's not just about objectifying women, but also taking advantage of women's insecurities, for instance, about having fair skin, which is the wish of most Asian women.
Believing that such ads are misogynistic, "Rossie", a senior copywriter at an ad agency, refuses to handle skin whitening products.
"Of all the beauty product ads, I think those for skin whitening products are the meanest of all. Because the bottom line is always that you won't get a guy unless you're white. Hair products don't always use that approach, but skin whitening products do," she said.
"Sadly, the product sells, because it's what Asian women want."
Aside from using women's sexuality, Rossie added that most ads still weigh on the formula of boy-meets-girl and boy-gets-girl, with most of the young women shown as shy and innocent -- the way society would like them to be.
"Attracting the opposite sex is another easy trick. But advertising people deny that they only want the easy way. The excuse then is human insight, that women want to be beautiful because they want to attract men," Rossie said.
Another excuse is that it is what clients want, or because it is in line with the research done by the client or the ad agency.
Glenn Marsalim, creative director of OgilvyOne (of Ogilvy & Mather international group), said research showed that public perceptions defined women as submissive and people pleasers.
"Do women feel like they are losing their dignity if they use skin whitening products or straighten their hair? No way," he argued.
According to Jeanny, however, the research is often abused to validate taking particular approaches, which results in a pattern for certain ads.
"Like bank ads must have men wearing ties, or detergent commercials always show housewives doing the laundry," she said.
The prevailing mentality is that it is good to stay in one's comfort zone, and better not step out if there is no example to follow.
No advertisers dare to be different, which Glenn also attributed to the monetary crisis and a reluctance to take risks.
"Besides, people are getting more individualistic right now. In the 1980s and early '90s, pop culture can still dictate and aspire people. Not now. There's no single trend right now."
However, if sex is the easiest trick in advertisements, it is still arguable if it will actually boost product sales.
"There are so many factors which can boost sales. Could be the price, good distribution, relevance to people's needs and interesting marketing. An ad induces trial, and works as shock power. If it has no relevance with the product, it only ends up as a cheap trick," Rossie said.
Women's rights organizations such as the Indonesian Women's Coalition have called upon ad agencies to sit down with them to enhance their gender sensitivity.
"We urge advertising agencies to start changing the social construction which is still against women. It's their role in educating society," said the Coalition's secretary general, Masruhah.
Rossie said that ultimately it was not the job of ad agencies to become gender awareness advocates, because they were merely taking from what the wants of society.
"Ad agencies are just an opportunist. They won't focus on skin whitening if people don't want the product. The responsibility of ad agency is only for the client. If they don't want to increase women's insecurities, then don't take the job," she said.
They need to respect the customer, and the only responsibility was to not mislead through false advertising.
Glenn said the issue was not about advertising and the media, but the public's view of women.
"I think if the value of women in society changes, the ad will follow. If women have jobs and something to do, the portrayals will shift," he said.
Ads merely reflect society, and in the end, he said, they were "all about dollars and cents".

Labels: culture, women's right

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Alleged rape victims violated again by media

Sunday, November 23, 2003
Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Teen soap opera actor Faisal strutted and posed confidently for the cameras, making light of rape allegations lodged by an 18-year-old ex-girlfriend.

"She's the one who forced me into sexual intercourse... Even if I did rape (a woman), why wouldn't I have picked a beautiful one?" the 19 year old said.

While the United States is gripped by the trial of basketball star Kobe Bryant for allegedly raping a young woman, local media has been whipped up into a frenzy about Faisal and his accuser.

Celebrity gossip tabloids and TV shows have been vying to land the latest scoop about the allegations, trundling out the young star's mother, his coworkers and fans to protest his innocence.

While the onus is on the woman to prove her allegations in court, she is also called on to justify herself in the court of public opinion, presided over by a skeptical tabloid media, in which concerns for privacy are judged inconsequential.

The past sexual history of Faisal's accuser has been dredged up, and she has been described as promiscuous. One TV gossip show interviewed a former boyfriend who alleged he had sex with the woman, and showed his home movie of her joking around for the camera.

"Well, if her allegation is true, then why isn't she brave enough to show her face?" sniffed one TV presenter after a camera crew came up empty-handed after camping out at the woman's home.

The dissection of the woman's background and personality is eerily similar to the Bryant case, where the young woman's history of emotional problems has been served up for public consumption and an old high school prom picture, showing her saucily lifting her skirt, has been published.

Of course, rape is a serious and damning allegation, but the media seems star-struck in reporting about Faisal, who has been declared a suspect but argues that he had consensual sex with the woman.

Faisal has told his side of the story to the tabloids; in return, they have waxed on about his youthful handsomeness, his thick eyebrows and beautiful aquiline nose, and pointed out that he has always played the good boy in TV series.

The inference is that the young woman -- loose and no great beauty -- must have concocted the rape allegation out of jealousy, a desire to grab some of the celebrity spotlight.

"That is so sexist. Pretty or not, anyone can become a rape victim," said woman's rights activist and legal expert Nursyahbani Katjasungkana.

Media observer Veven S.P. Wardhana said that local media still cannot position itself as a sympathetic but objective party in its treatment of alleged rape victims.

"They always focus on the physical description of the victims, like having fair skin and all. That's irrelevant. It's almost saying that because of her fair skin, she deserves to be raped," Veven said.

Biased coverage is also not exclusive to the scandal sheets, he added, noting that it is also done by mainstream publications and women's magazines.

"A women's tabloid once even published a picture of a child who was raped. Imagine the girl's pain and embarrassment. Women's publications are supposedly more sensitive, but the facts prove otherwise," he said.

Nursyahbani said local journalists also lacked an understanding about the different forms that rape can take, aside from the standard definition of forced sexual intercourse.

"While there are others concepts, such as sexual intercourse without consent, oral sex. Maybe it's because in Bahasa Indonesia, the vocabulary and understanding is still limited. While in English there's rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment," she said.

Fed up by the media coverage, the mother of Faisal's accuser went to the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan), seeking support for her daughter.

After the meeting on Nov. 6, the head of Komnas Perempuan's monitoring subcommission, Murniati, warned journalists to tone down their coverage.

"The press has to consider carefully the victim's psychological circumstances. Publicity can leave the victim more depressed," she said.

However, in what some found a strange position to take for an institution entrusted as a guardian of women's interests, the commission said it did not believe the complaint should have been brought to its attention.

As biased and sexist coverage can be considered violence against women, perhaps the institution best suited to handling such a dispute is the media governing body of the Press Council.

Unfortunately, the council itself has no rules about biased coverage in rape cases.
"There is no specific point about that in the journalistic code of ethics. It's just the question of appropriateness. It is the same as covering war victims -- we shouldn't expose pictures of the wounded," said council head Ikhlasul Amal.

Complaints can be addressed to the Council, who will later summon the media in question.

"They have to provide clarification, an apology or sanction the reporters. If they refuse, we will publish a press release about them. I think that will be embarrassing enough for the media," Ikhlasul said.

It's doubtful the offending media's embarrassment, if any, compares to the shame of those women brave enough to come forward to face their own trial by fire.

Labels: media, women's right

Posted by hera at 12:39 AM | Permalinks | Comments

Women still battling to get ahead in workplace

Sunday, November 02, 2003
Hera Diani and Bruce Emond, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The glass ceiling has been cracked but it's still far from being shattered: Although the workplace is more gender-friendly than it once was, examples of women CEOs like president director of Indofood Eva Rianti Hutapea and PT IBM Indonesia's president Betti Setiastuti Alisjahbana are still relatively uncommon.
Women, many of them stuck in "traditional" jobs of the secretarial pool or as assistants, are still having to learn how to navigate their way through the "boys' club".
So when "Dita" heard that the only top woman manager in her office had been forced to resign, she sensed discrimination.
"They said she didn't perform well, which is questionable because professionally, she's a hard worker and very professional. Compared to her male counterparts, she was doing a better job.
"Maybe she was too tough at times and made some misjudgment sometimes, but who doesn't?" said the middle-management staff in a private company.
At the heart of her dismissal, she felt, was that the woman had been deemed too strident and supercritical for her colleagues, the archetypal "bitch". She wondered if a man acting the same way would be regarded as hard and demanding, but the reaction would be accepting ("he's a man, after all"), not condemning.
She points out that much of the criticism of women in the workplace is personal, based on how they look or dress, not about their competency for their job. If they do make it to the top, they are often dismissed as riding their family's coattails to the top, or sleeping their way there.
"Educated people tend to deny the occurrence of discrimination against women in the workplace. But the fact is that discrimination remains. Men still can't accept women as their leader, or being in a higher position than them," Dita asserted.
"If they (women) make it to the top, they are considered overly ambitious, a poor mother, that they must be a lesbian, whatever. Worse still, they are considered as having used their femininity to reach the position," Dita said.
According to Eileen Rachman, director of executive performance development firm Experd, the stigmatization of women using their sexuality to get ahead persists.
"It's not that easy to merely use sexuality to reach a high position. That's a myth. Women executives who I know really perform very well in their jobs," she told The Jakarta Post.
Sociologist and women's rights activist Mayling Oey-Gardiner said that men are still threatened by women reaching top positions.
"Quantity-wise, statistically there are still more men in the workplace. As top positions are limited, men feel threatened by women so they conspire against women," Mayling said.
Stereotyping women as "emotional" -- with the implicit understanding that this tag means she will be prone to fly off the handle, be irrational and find it difficult to remain impartial in her judgements -- is used to keep them out of managerial positions.
A similar reason is that women will not be able to meet their professional obligations because of family commitments.
Men may be the ones orchestrating the effort to keep "uppity" women in their "place", but other women sometimes become allies in tearing them down.
"There has been the growing belief that the ones who should be blamed are women. It's like the stereotype that women like to gossip, while men do it as well. But when men gossip, they call it business. It's unfair. Eventually, women also believe that it's true," Mayling said.
Meisye, a 36-year-old private company secretary, holds to the belief that women are more emotional, but that it should not fstop them from making their way up the corporate ladder.
"There is no denying that we are more emotional, but being a manager means controlling those emotions in the workplace," she said.
"There is nothing to stop women from doing that ... But, of course, people prefer to work with someone who is at least semi-competent and friendly over someone who is bright, highly competent but cannot mix well with them."
Such views irk "Ira", a 26-year-old media worker.
"Women aren't more emotional, that's used by men to keep us down," she said angrily. "I know many male managers who are just as emotional if not more so (than women colleagues), but it's not a trait that is ascribed to men."
The battle to have quotas established for women in the government unleashed its own hornet's net of controversy, with male legislators rejecting the measure as unnecessary.
After all, goes the facile argument, this country is led by a woman.
"Research shows that corruption will decline when more women are given such positions. Therefore, men feel threatened because they're afraid of losing their positions," Mayling said.
Eileen said there would be no opportunity for sexism when companies had clearly defined corporate culture and measurement of performance and competency.
However, policies in most companies, and also the law on labor, do not benefit women.
Working women are not considered the breadwinners, therefore, they are not given the family or dependent's allowance.
"I'm single, but I have my mother and my siblings as my dependents. However, the company won't consider that," said "Wati", a 40-something manager in a private company.
The labor law allows for women to take two days off every month when they menstruate. In most cases, however, women are reluctant to take it for fear of being called unprofessional.
Some women may strive to measure up to men in every way, afraid of being labeled with the "emotional" stereotype, but then running the risk of being called "masculine".
"For women, good is never enough as they have to be excellent to be recognized in the workplace," Dita's manager once said.
Perhaps she forgot to add that they also need to be careful of all the obstacles lying on that difficult road to success.

Labels: women's right

Posted by hera at 2:24 AM | Permalinks | Comments