22 Percent of Women Elected in the 2024 Election is Not an Achievement

Predictive data released by the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) regarding the electability of women from the 2024 election results shows that 22.06 percent, or 128 women, will sit in the national parliament. This figure increased from the results of the 2019 election, with women’s representation of 20.5 percent. An increase of 1.56 percent is considered by the Secretary General of the Indonesian Women’s Coalition (KPI), Mike Verawati Tangka, to be unfortunate. Women’s representation should have reached 30 percent.

“If you want to say it has increased, it should be 30 percent, because the minimum rule of 30 percent on the list of candidates has been in effect since 2004. In my opinion, this increase is not because the issue of women’s representation is unreasonable, but it actually shows that there is no progress. “This is the umpteenth election, but not even 30 percent,” said Mike in the discussion “Women’s Electability and Prospects for Women’s Representation after the 2024 Election,” which was broadcast on the Perludem YouTube account (29/5).

The stagnation in women’s election rates in parliament, according to Perludem researcher Heroik Pratama, is caused by the weak support of political parties for women. Political parties have not yet committed to placing women at the top of potential electoral districts. The majority of women are placed in serial numbers 3 and 6, while the chance of being selected in serial number 1 is much greater than in serial numbers 3 and 6.

“If the party is fully committed to women’s representation figures to increase the number of women’s representation in parliament, they should place women at number 1,” said Heroik in the same discussion.

Apart from that, political parties are also seen as not providing more support in the form of mobilizing party structures in the field to win female cadres. After the final list of candidates was determined, women fought with their own resources, with minimal or almost no party assistance.

“The party still sees it as gender neutral. Men and women enter the free competition. Well, parties and female legislative candidates are not aware that the competition is actually unequal. If a woman loses, they say there are consequences for politics. “In fact, the space is not the same for women and men; for example, in the election process, the culture is still patriarchal, and how many women have more money than men?” explained Mike.  []