Visual storytelling women in politics from Aletta Jacobs' travel +100 in Indonesia CEDAW, Kartini, ICT

Lena Maryana & Hetifah Sjaifudian active in political decision-making

Focus on CEDAW by Danish Women's Society 2001, member International Alliance of Women. IAW is a non-governmental, feminist organization and represents more than 50 organisations world-wide. How to join?

Aletta Jacobs' World travel after 100 years from the Netherlands in Bogor. 

Female Legislators & Kartini Day in Provinsi Jawa Barat / West Java

''Sharia bylaws 'time bomb'" article in The Jakarta Post, 20.04.2012. Fears that sharia bylaws could cause local conflicts. "By early 2010 more than 150 bylaws, regulations and circulars were found to be problematic and discriminative according to the national women's rights body." 

Ellin Rozana of www.institutperempuan.or.id with IAW Centenary. Institut Perempuan / Women's Institute is a feminist, non-profit organization, dedicated to women's issues and women's rights advocacy work in Bandung. 

''We should then ask, why after 100 years ... Seventy percent of poor people of this country are women. There are many big corruption cases in the government and parliament, while the number of malnourished children and maternal mortality rate are increasing." Quote from Cultural Speech Sense of Love 2011 by R. Valentina Sagala, founder of Women's Institute. 

Ranti Puji Agusti of www.commonroom.info in Bandung. Open platform strong in bridging dialogue and exchanging knowledge. She is Program Manager Networks Foundation, studied International Law and Human Rights. The Common room uses Copyleft / Creative Commons.

The online population in Indonesia is 31 million in 2011 and estimated 50 million in 2015. Source: China Daily April 20-26 2012. Currently, there are 42.5 million Facebook users in Indonesia. This is 18% compared to the country's population. Which makes it #4 by country. There are 59% male users and 41% female users in Indonesia Facebook statistics by Country. 

Dr. Machya Astuti Dewi, Head of Department of International Relations UPN ''Veteran" Yogyakarta. The Department has 50% male / female lecturers. One of her research projects is on gender, quotas and politics.

Female hero Kartini in advertising 'Chase your dreams' buy a TV, fridge or ...

In Yogyakarta and Amsterdam I read about the beautiful and interesting life and activities of Stanley Ann Dunham (photo 1973) in A Singular Woman. The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mother by Janny Scott, 2011

Ann Dunham lived more than half of her adult life in Indonesia. She became an anthropologist, a development consultant, an early figure in microfinance.

Women´s participation in politics in Indonesia: Kartini Day, parody video Women's Suffrage & strategic alliances #IAW Aletta Jacobs + 100

The Jakarta Post wrote several pages ´Shining a light on Women´. Raden Ajeng Kartini (1879-1904) was a letter writer and pionieer for women´s rights in Indonesia.´´Even in my childhood, the word ´emancipation´ enchanted my ears ... and awakened in me an ever-growing longing for freedom and independence``, she wrote in 1899. Her birthday 21th of April is a national holiday Kartini Day. 

The Aletta Jacobs + 100 years travellers celebrated Kartini Day in the Erasmus house of the Netherlands Embassy in Jakarta. The beautiful event was organised by Dineke Stam, Intercultural Museum and Heritage Projects, and APIK, an Association of Indonesian Women for Justice. 

One of the speakers Mineke Bosch, professor of Modern History and biographer of Aletta Jacobs, illustrated her story by showing a YouTube parody video Bad Romance: Women´s Suffrage. The excellent video is paying homage to generations of brave women who joined together in the fight giving women the right to vote in 1920 in the USA. This video can be used as a learning tool about women´s participation in politics / MDG3 (now SDG 5 gender equality in decision-making positions / processes). 

Strategic alliances: actively promotion 

Dra. Lena Maryana Mukti, Former Member of Parliament, disseminated information about how women in politics at all levels learn from each other and show force by cooperation between women politicians, ngo´s and journalists. And about the new Election Law: 2,5% of national vote in national level increased to 3,5% election threshold of national vote flatly implemented nationally in 2014. Parties must receive a minimum percentage of votes to obtain any seats. The 3,5% election threshold is dangerous to small parties. Many female members of regional and local legislature are from small parties that did not pass the 2,5% in 2009 general election. Lena Maryana invited Mineke Bosch and me to the 2nd National Conference of Indonesian Female Legislators from across the country with 400 women.

Dr. Ir. Hetifah Sjaifudian, Member of Parliament 2009-2014, actively promotes women's participation and gender equality in politics. She complimented Lena Maryana, because her various activities made it possible for her to become a politician. Hetifah Sjaifudian, pro citizen participation and a researcher, based her involvement in politics and campaign strategy on analysing data. She was elected thanks to civil society organizations and use of alternative networks. And as Member of Parliament she learned how to improve her political networking and connections by experienced men who became her mentor. 

At the picture you see from left to right Dineke Stam, Lena Maryana, Hetifah Sjaifudian and Mineke Bosch. Lena Maryana & Hetifah Sjaifudian are very inspiring rolemodels for women's participation in politics. 

Inspirational women and activities
- Perwari, Association of Women of Republic of Indonesia, was an affiliate of International Alliance of Women (IAW) from 1967 till 1982.
- Rena Herdiyani & Estu Fanani from CEDAW Working Group Initiative in Jakarta. They are working on the NGO CEDAW Shadowreport 2012.