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indonesian team study 2

WOMEN & HUMAN RIGHTS

I. INTRODUCTION

“Human Rights” is a term often heard and has become popular as though it was a slogan. But what it really means and how to define it, is not easy.

People tend to think it unnecessary to find the meaning of such words that have been publicly accepted. Human rights simply means basic or fundamental rights. It is the basis of any human situation.

Human right is the basic right which must exist in every government regulation, whether it takes the form of constitution, tradition, or unwritten laws. Constitutional or other laws made for the society must be in accordance with human rights. Countries in the world have formed their governments on the basis of human rights.

Human rights, of course, are not without limitations, which would otherwise offend the rights of others. Therefore the government must make it clear how human rights should be executed and protected and give priority to public needs. Modern countries are in favor of human rights and its execution is protected.

Human rights are differentiated as follows:

1. Personal rights which include freedom of speech, freedom of religi6n, freedom of mobility, etc. The execution of these rights should, of course, be in line with the government regulations.

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2. Property rights; freedom of buying and purchasing property without much intervention from the government.

3. Right to have equal treatment in government and law.

4. Political right; freedom to take part in government, freedom to be affiliated to a political party, freedom of petition, etc.

5. Social and cultural rights; freedom of education, freedom of employment and freedom of cultural development.

6. Procedural rights; government institutions are obliged to obey the regulations in protecting the execution of human rights. These are, among other things, what human rights mean, and have been accepted by modern democratic countries. The acknowledgement of human rights implies protection from authority and/or protection against individual offence.

HUMAN RIGHTS OF INDONESIAN WOMEN

An interesting fact is the essential difference between the women's position in industrialized and developing countries. These have become head lines in the mass-media,- Newsweek writes,"....the most striking problem which has been the main concern of the feminists in Western industrialized countries, is regarded as being irrelevant by most women in the Third World. Delegates from underdeveloped countries are more concerned to encourage economic and social changes so that both women and men can escape from poverty, famine, and reality."

Dr. Ester Boserup, the famous Danish economist who attended the UN Conference as a Danish delegate, was a speaker in the seminar on Women and Development, and wrote in a report about the activities in Mexico City, "Emphasis on the same rights and development was the main dispute in the conference and was debated in the seminar on Woman and Development."

Most participants in various activities in Mexico City regard equal rights and development as two conflicting aims. Many delegates from developing

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countries wanted the first priority devoted to the development. They showed little interest in fighting for equal rights and opportunity of men and women in the same country. Many delegates, especially from industrial countries, were worried about equality which might be sacrificed to the government's polity to accelerate development.

So those delegates urged that acknowledgment of and equality in sex be accepted as the main fundamental theme. Perception on the problem of Indonesian women is in accordance to what is generally accepted as perception in developing countries, that is more emphasis on full integration from women in development than equality between men and women.

We will never listen to serious arguments on equality between men and -women when we talk with Indonesian women leaders. Their remarks are on women as potential power which could be a great contribution to the country's development.

This contribution may be as great and important as that from men. Does this mean that Indonesian women have got their equal rights as men have? The answer is not absolute. Yetty Noor said that constitutionally, men and women have the same "position but there are inhibiting factors in the effort to achieve equality in fact. This very problem still needs some improvement related to "women's determination as individuals" such as whether one is to get married or not, if so with whom, how many children one should have, and whether one should have a divorce if the family life is unfavourable. In connection with this, there have been some improvements when marriage law was legally approved in December 1973, though by what Yetty Noor has said, women have not been completely satisfied with it.

In Indonesia, equality between men and women does not exist and women have been fully integrated in the course of development. The primary role of women is in the homes as housewives, and as citizens women also have a responsiblity to the society.

II. SOME DEMOGRAPHICAL NOTES ON INDONESIAN WOMEN’S PROGRESS

Women's attempts to get equal opportunities as possessed by men have been interesting topics of

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conversation lately. But how far have they reached their goal? This question is the subject dealt with in this paper. Setting systems of values and economic condition aside, we can readily predict that women have less opportunities for education and employment compared with men. From the development point of view however, they are more successful than men. In this paper, progress is measured by the increase of the number of women who succeed in learning to read and to write, in other words, who are willing to make use of the given opportunities for education and employment.

During the post-independence period, the Central Bureau of Statistics made two Censuses, in 1961 and 1971. In both censuses data was collected and the writer had the opportunity to make a comparison.

LITERACY

One of the indications that shows the level of development of a society is the level of literacy. In this paper the level of literacy is determined by the number of people who can read and write Latin, Arabic, Chinese letters, and others, out of 100.

Table 1 shows the level of literacy in relation to sex and age. We can see that in general in each age group the number of literate males is greater than the number of literate females. But if we compare the 1961 with 1971 data, we will see that as a whole males literacy is only 12.3% while the female is 16.2%. It means that the increase in female literacy is greater than in male. The difference is due to the fact that females between the ages of 10 and 34 have a much higher rate of development than males of the same age. It is true that in the following age (higher than 34) males have greater progress than women. But because younger people are greater in number than older ones, the total number is greatly affected

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Table 1 The level of literacy in relation to sex and age, Indonesia 1961 and 1971.

Age	Males		Females
	1961	1971	1961	1971
10 – 14	76.2	83.2	67.6	99.1
15 – 19	76.6	86.7	59.0	77.9
20 – 24	74.1	86.8	44.2	69.4
25 – 34	61.7	77.9	29.9	48.5
35 – 44	53.0	63,3	20.9	30.4
45 – 54	41.6	54.2	11.3	19.6
55 – 64	31.8	43.4	7.7	12.0
65 – 74	24.2	33.9	6.0	9.3
75 +	23.5	26.5	6.5	7.8
Total	59.8	72.1	27.1	50.3

Source: The Central Bureau of Statistics, Census in 1961 and 1971

The fact is that more females have made use of the open opportunities for learning to read and to write than the males.

Especially for females, we see that both in 1961 and 1971 the younger the group is, the higher the level of the increase. Furthermore, the increase is much greater in number than for males. If we compare the group of 20 - 24 and 15 - 19 and 10 — 14, we will notice that in 1971 the levels got higher in the case of females, and as for males, the level got lower and lower. To see whether this fact about males is real, or just because of a miscollection of data, a further and deeper investigation is still needed. In general, the same thing happens both in urban and rural areas. Table 2 shows the comparison of literacy level in urban and rural areas. It shows the same thing as far as males and females are concerned. It is also very useful for us to describe the changes that took place in the last decade, if we want to get a clear comparison of the situation in urban and rural areas.

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Table 2 Literacy level related to area of residence, sex and age, Indonesia, 1961 and 1971.

Age	Urban
	Males		Females
	1961	1971	1961	1971
10 – 14	89.8	91.7	84.7	88.9
15 – 19	92.3	95.5	79.9	90.7
20 – 24	89.0	86.1	64.5	87.1
25 – 34	79.2	92.2	57.8	71. 1
35 – 44	74.3	82.9	37.1	52.6
45 – 54	65.1	78,0	24.2	40.2
55 – 64	57.7	70.7	17.5	28.9
65 – 74	50.6	61.5	12.2	22.4
75 +	40.7	49.2	9.5	17.9
TOTAL	79.9	88.3	53.3	70.0
Age	Rural
	Male		Females
	1961	1971	1961	1971
10 – 14	73.5	81.4	64.0	76.9
15 – 19	72.9	84.3	54.3	74.5
20 – 24	70.2	83.9	40.1	64.9
25 – 34	58.2	74.5	26.9	44.1
35 – 44	49.4	59.5	18.2	26.1
45 – 54	38.2	59.8	9.4	15.7
55 – 64	29.0	28.6	6.1	9.0
65 – 74	20.6	29.5	5.0	6.9
75 +	21.3	23.0	6.0	5.6
TOTAL	56.0	68.5	30.6	46.1

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Source: The Central Bureau of Statistics, Census 1961 and 1971.

The Literacy level of males of ten and above ten in urban areas increases just 8.4%, while in rural areas the increase amounts to 12.5%. As for females in both areas the level increase 16.7% and 15.5%. Now let's see literacy level in relation to age groups. In general we can see that female literacy increase is greater than male in 1961. This happened in both areas.

As predicted from the beginning, in general, higher increases happen in urban rather than in rural areas. It is because of the better facilities for learning to read and to write which are found there. Another reason is that the flow of urbanization brings literate migrants cities.

EDUCATION

Similar to data about literacy, educational data also shows that educated males are greater in number than educated females. But females are seen to make progress faster than males do.

Table 3 describes Indonesian population of ten years old and upwards in relation to sex and level of education in 1961 and 1971. 14 million males and 10 million females of the 10 years and upward attend at least elementary schools for several years with only a slight difference in number.

In 1971 people having attended schools is as follows: 28 million males and 20 million females. We can predict that numbers will go on increasing if the system of values arid the same norms continue to be in practice. Parents' attitudes letting their sons continue their higher study at universities or academies has strengthened the pattern mentioned above, in which educated males are greater in number than educated females. Based on the comparison of the situation of 1961-1971, we can hope that the difference will increase in the coming years. The data also shows that the number of uneducated females of ten years old and upwards does not decrease as fast as the number of uneducated males does, (14% for females). On the contrary we can see that the number of educated females has grown faster than that of educated males (triple for females and double for males).

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Another fact is also apparent in this data: in 1961 and 1971 the number of females going to school (but not university) is greater in number than that of males.

Viewed from the number of students (see table 4) in each group both in urban and rural areas, the number of male students surpasses that of female students. But this data shows us that during the period between 1961 and 1971 in each group (5-25) the increase is greater on the part of male students of 25 years old and above. But the number of male students of 25 years old (and more) is continually increasing (6.18%). This fact supports the idea that higher education (university) level is not as essential for women as for men.

Table 5: The ratio of students and population in relation to sex, age and areas Indonesia, Urban and Rural areas 1961 and 1971.

Age	1961		1971
	Men	Women	Men	Women
Indonesia
5 – 9	34.1	32.5	35.0	34.4
10 – 14	64.7	54.4	65.2	57.5
15 – 19	23.2	11.5	29.7	17.0
20 – 24	6.1	1.6	9.7	3.0
25 +	0.8	0.2	0.8	0.2
Urban areas
5 – 9	49.4	48.5	43.6	43.9
10 – 14	84.1	75.4	79.1	71.8
15 – 19	48.2	30.1	50.4	34.4
20 – 24	16.3	5.5	22.6	9.9
25 +	1.8	0.4	2.8	0.7
Rural areas
5 – 9	31.8	30.2	33.5	32.7
10 – 14	60.9	49.9	62.3	54.3
15 – 19	18.2	7,4	24.1	12.4
20 – 24	3.4	0.8	5.7	1.2
25 +	0.7	0.2	0.4	0.1

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Source: The Central Bureau of Statistics.

As in previous data, the above data describes the same thing. Although, in general, the ratio between students and population shows a greater number of male students, during the period of 1961 to 1971, the number of female students grows faster than that of male students.

MAN POWER

The term "man power" is used to describe those who already have jobs and those who are trying to find jobs. Enough data has been collected in both census, but they fail to give a clear description of the pattern of the development of man power in Indonesia. It is due to the different definitions applied in both censuses. In 1961 the concept of man power was used with reference to 6 months before the time of the census execution, while in 1971 only one week before the census was used.

1961 census mentions 25 million men and ten million women, while 1971 census notes 28 million men and 14 million women. Therefore, during the period between the two censuses, the number of the male labour force goes up 10.26% and female labour 43.02% while the number of the population (10 years old and more) increases by 25.07% on the part of the male population and 26.67% on the part of the female population. This data shows that male labour develops more slowly than male population, while as for women, the data shows the reverse. Female labour grows faster in number than the population.

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Table 6: The level of participation, in Indonesia, man power relation to sex and age, 1961 and 1971.

Age	1961	1971 Adaptation
		Not yet	Already
10 – 14	22.63	18.20	22.90
15 – 19	66.67	52.83	57.31
20 – 24	87.16	79.17	81.86
25 – 34	94.41	92.84	94.03
35 – 44	96.79	94.51	95.44
45 – 54	95.62	91.63	92.60
55 – 64	89.58	82.16	84.20
65 – 74	78.01	67.55	67.55
75 +	61.73	47. 13	47.13
Total	79.78	70.33	72.57
Age	1961	1971 Adaptation
		Not yet	Already
10 – 14	15.60	13.75	18.59
15 – 19	30.59	30.77	34.76
20 – 24	27.40	33.43	35.08
25 – 34	27.24	36.99	37.80
35 – 44	33.26	42.80	43.66
45 – 54	39.77	44.01	45.62
55 – 64	39.12	37.17	37.17
65 – 74	31.47	27.09	27.09
75 +	20.30	15.46	15.46
Total	29.35	33.14	35.14

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Notes: The participation level of manpower is counted by dividing the number of manpower, by the number of population and then multiplying it by 100.

The adaptation of the age group 10 - 14 is counted by taking one eighth of the manpower number of the other groups and dividing the result by the number of population and multiplying the result by 100. The age group of 45 - 64 is counted in the same way, but the addition of manpower is only one fourth of the other groups.

Although the 1971 data of the Labour force is adapted, the pattern of participation in manpower still decreases in comparison with the data of 1961 (see table 6) Before being adapted, the level of participation of the male labour force goes to 3.79%, and after the adaptation goes down to 7.21%. On the contrary, the participation of the female labour force continues to rise from 1961 to 1971. Before being adapted, the data shows a rise of 3.79%, while after the adaptation a rise of 5.79%.

The data also tells us that the participation level continually decreases in each age-group between 1961 and 1971. On the contrary, during the same period in each age-group, between 10 and 54, the participation level of female labour force keeps on rising, only in the age-group of 55 upward, does the level decrease. Thus, this data concerning the Labour Force also supports the idea previously mentioned, i.e. male labour forces’ level of participation is higher than that of female labour force's. But during the period of census, men's level goes down, while women's level goes up.

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Table 7: The level of unemployment in relation to sex and age, Indonesia 1961 and 1971.

Age	Males:		Females:
	1961	1971	1961	1971
10 – 14	23.85	17.81	31.08	21.63
15 – 19	16.87	12.24	17.39	13.39
20 – 24	8.10	9.92	6.94	12.93
25 – 34	2.19	6.12	2.82	10.71
35 – 44	1.01	5.37	1.81	9.34
45 – 54	1.08	5.40	2.51	8.52
55 – 64	1.42	5.71	3.98	9.87
65 – 74	2.63	6.39	6.55	12.79
75 +	3.63	10.36	12.30	22.56
Total	4.81	7.47	6.97	11.50

Source: The Central Bureau of Statistics, census in 1961 and 1971.

Labour Force comprises those already employed and those seeking jobs. The development and the level of participation of the labour force are also influenced by the level of employment and the level of unemployment. We are happy to notice the progress made by Indonesian women in the level of unemployment of the female labour force in comparison to the level of unemployment of the male labour force. Table 7 shows male unemployment of 2.16% compared with women's unemployment of 4.03%.

Table 8 describes labour force and the level of women's unemployment in relation to the level of education.

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Table 8: Labour Force and the level of unemployment in relation to sex and to school attainment by Indonesian women.

Schools Finished	Labour Force:		Unemployment level
	Number	%
Unschooled	8.226.266	60.11	9.74
Elementary School Unfinished	3.105.578	22.69	12.57
Elementary School Finished	1.824.812	13.33	15.48
Secondary School (Junior high School)	300.964	2.19	19.07
Senior high School	199.218	1.46	18.05
Academic/University	29.281	0.22	22.61
Total	13.666.119	100.00	11.50

Source: The Central Bureau of Statistics: Population census 1961 and 1971.

According to the above date 50% of the whole number of the female labour force have never attended formal education and only 4% of them have been able to finish Elementary school.

The most urgent situation, however, is the rising unemployment resulting from the growing rise in the level of education.

Because most of the female labour force are still at a low level of education, the kind of work they are able to do is also limited to that which does not need skilled labour. Table~9 shows that only 3% of the whole Indonesian female labour force do work such as professional technological work, management, leadership and administration, etc.

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Table 9: Female Labour Force, in relation to kinds of work, Indonesia, 1971.

Kinds of work	Total Number	%
Professional, Technical skill and Professional skill	284.105	2.08
Leadership	11.459	0.08
Administration and similar work	128.667	0.94
Selling Department	1.840.466	13.45
Tourism	680.898	4.98
Peasant	7.947.639	58.07
Production and operator	1.258.477	9.20
etc.	1.534.408	11.21
TOTAL	13.686.119	100.00

Source: The Central Bureau of Statistics, 1971, serial D.

Based on the above data, we can draw a conclusion that from 1961 to 1971 the female Indonesian labour force developed rapidly but the situation, needs improvement. Unemployment in 1971 reached 11,5%. It may be even higher now if the volume of employment remained the same as it was before or developed insufficiently. Moreover the number of unemployed becomes greater in proportion to the level of education reached. This situation can of course make it difficult for Indonesian women who are badly needed in our national development.

This data also shows that the female labour force has only finished a lower level of education, and more than half of them have never gone to school. Therefore only a few of them are able to do professional works, leadership or administration.

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III. THE ROLE AND POSITION OF WOMEN IN CHURCH

When talking about women's role and position in Church we must take into consideration their position in society, for Church is a form of community which is an inseperable part of the society. We will be able to see their role in Church if we are able to see their position and role in Society more clearly.

To make a description of the role and position of women in Church is not an easy task, for Indonesian churches are of various sects and their numbers consist of many different kinds of ethnic groups (denominations). Their position in Church, as it is now in most Indonesian Churches, is not at all based on what is stated in the Bible. The Bible has important women figures such as Mary, Lydia, Dorcas, who are directly involved in the works of God, while a lot of Churches apparently adhere to the verses of I Corinthians 14:34-35 (Let your women keep silence in the Churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the Law. And it they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the Church.)

But if we observe the real condition of Indonesian Churches, we will soon see that the greater part of Church members are women (girls) and that women constitute the backbone of the Church. We can also undoubtedly see that in most Indonesian Churches women are participating industriously in any forms of activity e.g. collecting funds, Bible study, Church choir groups and evangelism, etc.

From the report of an investigation done by the Institute of Research and Study of the Indonesian Council of Churches we can see that 13 out of 20 of the Churches have investigated women commissioned even in the level of synod, and most of them, with the exception of Indonesian Christian Church of Irian Jaya (Gereja Kristen Indonesia) and Huria Kristen Batak Protestan (The Protestant Church of Batak) have women's organizations in which women's activities are only a part of the general activities of the church.

In some Churches women are received as full time workers conducting the services (preaching, teaching catechism, etc) such as in Indonesian Christian Church (whose members are of Chinese descent), Western Indonesian Protestant Church, Sundanese

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Protestant Church, Christian Church of Southeast Sulawesi- While in some other Churches women are allowed to do social work within the Church, it is often done under certain obstacles. The obstacles result from, among other things:

a) the structure of the Church

b) custom and belief of the local people in which women are considered lower than men.

c) lack of funds to finance well planned programmes.

d) the fact that a lot of women are unconscious of their role and position.

One of the appeals launched by the Second General Meeting of Church women was that clerical positions should be open for women also, and that they should be given enough opportunities to do administrative, planning and decision making work. This appeal springs from the fact that Churches, and other clerical institutions, differ from other establishments falling far behind in giving women enough opportunities to contribute their ability and creativity.

Too many theological and socio-cultural reasons are exploited to push women out of the process of making decisions, although some synod offices and other institutions have special commissions for women, and allow them to do their work or participate in clerical meetings.

A woman participant of the eighth General assembly of Indonesian Council of Churches in 1966, angrily protested the use of 'element' after the word 'woman'. But it is a pity her protest was not up graded to be the kind of claim which is in harmony with the appeal above. In several interviews with Church women leaders we received an impression that there is not a common opinion among them a-bout the way and form in which women can play their role and contribute their abilities in the life of the church.

For some people, what has been done by Churches in allowing women to take part in church activities is nothing but none sense:

- Churches who have refused to allow women to hold the post of minister, have never reconsidered their decision, let alone altered it.

- Although a fifth of the participants of the last assembly of Indonesian Council of Church-

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es are women, one of them even being one of the chairmen, none of them were able to sit on an important committee, such as the committee for nomination and structure.

- Only two women out of 61 full time staff were elected by the assembly, including one of the members of Badan Pekerja Harian.

- Out of the many clergymen who are now continuing their studies in higher theological education, only two are women.