Jakarta (ANTARA) - Assistant deputy for gender mainstreaming for politics and law at the Ministry of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection (PPPA), Iip Ilham Firman, invited all elements to support women's representation in parliament by electing female legislative candidates."Using the remaining time, we are carrying out a digital campaign to support women's representation in parliament. This campaign is an appeal with the hope that in the last seconds of this campaign period, the message can be conveyed well," he said in a statement released by the PPPA Ministry in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Firman added that women who decide to enter the world of politics have to overcome several challenges and obstacles. For this reason, space needs to be provided for women's political participation and representation because that could determine future policies, he explained.
"So, it is important to increase women's representation, both in quantity and quality, so that women's needs can be represented and defined in parliament in the form of policy products that are responsive to women's needs," Firman added.
He said that the 2024 election is a golden opportunity for society, especially women, to accelerate the realization of gender equality in Indonesia by achieving 30 percent representation of women in parliament.
"In the 2019 elections, the figure for women's representation in parliamentary seats was 20.5 percent. We must fight so that this figure does not decrease in the 2024 elections," he added.
Indonesia is scheduled to hold general elections on February 14, 2024, in which around 204.8 million voters are expected to participate. The political campaigning period started on November 28, 2023, and will end on February 10, 2024.
During the elections, Indonesians will elect a president and vice president as well as members of the House of Representatives (DPR), Regional Representatives Council (DPD), and Regional Legislative Councils (DPRD) at the provincial, city, and district levels. Women in the parliament should continue to pioneer the advancement of Indonesian culture, which includes batik, DPR Speaker Puan Maharani stated earlier.
"It is our duty to participate in preserving and maintaining what became part of the Indonesian culture," she stressed during a batik design contest held by the Indonesian Parliament Women's Caucus (KPP-RI) here on Friday.
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"This is not just in clothing but also how we conduct our duty as a member of the parliament," she added.
Maharani added that culture also encompasses the manner of speaking and behavior in addition to clothing and she hopes that the conduct of Indonesian women parliament members to reflect the nation's cultural values.
In the context of batik, the House affirmed that this inheritance has become a part of the Indonesian culture's uniqueness and a part of its identity, which must be preserved and maintained.
"Batik is one of the real forms of what President Soekarno said that we need to behave culturally," she elaborated.