Hajidah Sahwa Sadiqah and Zaidan Zainaddin
 |
| Structural Hegemony towards Women's Existence |
Feminist Society Indonesia — One of the most striking elements in the dark pages of Indonesian history in 1965 was the hegemonic ideological control in the New Order regime that made femininity have to be in line with the conservative nature of women, returning to the obedient and compliant Sumbadra. As a result of myths, images, and inappropriate strategic efforts in ideological control, women are kept from achieving freedom, making women individuals by questioning their situations and conditions as women themselves.
According to Beauvoir, the existence of women is based on
awareness (with others). Women are not born but "made". The
Indonesian system and culture still reinforce the nature of women by
perpetuating the myth that women must adopt a submissive, passive, obedient
character towards male family members, be shy and polite in sexual matters, be
nurturing and sacrifice themselves, always be an object, and be closely
associated with being a wife and mother.
The state, as the protector of all its people, is still
gender biased in various aspects of life, which creates a space (oppression) of
gender discrimination, violence, and sexual harassment. Structural violence
does not involve clear individual perpetrators but occurs because of unjust
social systems and structures. It causes loss or suffering for individuals or
groups through rules, policies, and practices that hinder their access to all
needs.
In the Annual Notes (CATAHU) of the National Commission on
Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) 2024, the number of complaints of cases
of Violence against Women in 2023 was 289,111, of which 4,347 were complaints
to the National Commission on Violence Against Women, while 3,303 were cases of
gender-based violence. This number means that, on average, Komnas Perempuan
receives 16 complaints daily.
The complaint data for these cases are gender-based violence
(GBV), which is still dominated by violence against women:
|
Personal/Domestic
Realm |
284.741
cases (98.5%) |
|
Public
Domain |
4.182
cases (1.4%) |
|
State
Domain |
188
cases (0.1%) |
This underlines that the domestic space, which
should be a safe place, is the central location for violence. On the other
hand, violence in the public and state spheres continues to reflect a systemic
failure to protect women in various spaces.
The combination of these problems has a relationship and
continuity with other problems. Structures or policies that still perpetuate
violence indirectly against women, namely, causing women in Indonesia to
experience gender oppression. Oppression is the cruel or unjust treatment of
people or groups with power over the other group. The unjust treatment of power
is often under governmental, cultural opprobrium, and authority.
Structural and personal violence experienced by women in
Indonesia has finally become a culture so that society normalizes all forms of
oppression against women. Women are considered to be naturally subject to
violence, sexual harassment, discrimination, marginalization, exploitation,
powerlessness, and subaltern.
This habit is affirmed by cultural imperialism over a very
long period, making society normalize the culture of subordinating women's
rights, even women, against themselves. Normalizing gender inequality will lead
to increasingly intense forms of discrimination so that it can strengthen the
doctrine or myth that women are attached to number two, obedient, passive, and
objects.
How could it not be? Silenced voices and lost hopes give
women no fighting power, even for themselves. They have been silent since the
beginning, thinking about their fate; efforts to equalize gender cannot be
executed because they have not been able to free themselves individually.
Women's dependence on a dominant structure or group makes privilege strengthen
the loss of women's existence. A dominant structure will become an inherent
culture.
All sectors support women's powerlessness (structurally,
culturally, individually, even women themselves) so that, in the end, women
individually and in groups do not realize that they are in a threatened position.
According to Young's theory, the struggle is seeking justice with the right to
fair conditions for self-development and freedom of self-determination for each
individual, as well as working together between women and uniting for this.
According to Young’s theory, the principle of justice is
simple: treating everyone based on the same rules, norms, standards, and
principles of rights or law. Every individual has rights and limitations
according to norms, rules, and laws, in which policymakers have the power with
the hope of not abusing power.
The domino effect of the problems that haunt women as a
whole causes gender economic inequality (women's financial freedom). This
condition is very burdensome for women economically because they consider women
deserve lower wages than men.
You can also read: Breaking Barriers: Women’s Economic Empowerment in Rural Areas
In the economic sector, the State makes a policy on the
Special Budget for Gender Targets aimed at women's and men's basic needs. In
terms of spending, the Malang City Government, through the Social Service,
Women's Empowerment, Child Protection, Population Control, and Family Planning
(DINSOS P3AP2KB), plans gender-related programs. The Special Budget for Gender
Targets is spent on Policy Advocacy and Assistance for Women's Protection
Services.
The Malang City Government budgets activities in this
category in the form of socialization of prevention of sexual violence. The
Budget for Institutionalization of Gender Equality (Affirmative Action) is in
the form of allocations for forms of institutionalization of Gender
Mainstreaming initiated by the Regional Government. This expenditure can be
budgeted in the data collection process and other related activities such as
increasing the capacity of Human Resources.
If we look at the 2023 Malang City Regional Budget (APBD),
the most significant expenditure is in the social assistance expenditure post
for individuals and community groups at 30% of the total spending, followed by
regional administration support expenditure with a percentage of 28% and in
third place is social rehabilitation expenditure for skills training with an
amount of 19% of the total spending of the DINSOS P3AP2KB. The portion of
expenditure related to gender affairs and women's empowerment is only 7.53%.
There is a reasonably significant expenditure difference compared to regional
administration support expenditure.
Marginalization keeps weaker groups outside the boundaries,
combined with fragmentation, to keep the distance between non-superior groups.
Furthermore, this applies in the context of gender, where women are the
inferior group and are shaped by the structure.
In this case, policies that perpetuate economic inequality
against women usually arise from a combination of historical, cultural,
political, and institutional factors that do not take women's needs, roles, or
rights into account equally (structural violence).
Lack of equal legal protection, namely, Indonesia without
strong policies to protect women from sexual harassment or discrimination and
subordination, women tend to face more significant economic barriers. The
government does not consider women's economic empowerment a strategic priority,
even though many studies show that improving women's position in the economy
drives incredible economic growth in the country and can meet their basic
needs.
Gender policies are often not evaluated to ensure their
impact on women and men, so gender equality in the economy is not known or
improved. Policies should focus on the underlying issues of direct violence in
society, one of which is the economy. Therefore, both awareness of a woman to
show her existence and empower herself and the government also significantly
impact the success of gender equality.
The role of dominance that has long been adopted by men and
women who are reluctant to empower themselves in all areas has an epic
combination when combined with the absence of women's empowerment by structural
policies. Women are identical to economic dependence on men; how could it not
be? Women earn less and are burdened with domestic roles, so it makes sense when
mothers prefer to stay at home because the dominant structural group is
indifferent. The culture is inherent so that society normalizes women at home,
and the cycle of women's dependency continues so that discrimination is
difficult to eliminate. If women choose to become working mothers, then the
double burden is adopted by women with domestic burdens that seem to be
mandatory for women to bear.
All of these issues are inseparable from the circle of
structural violence created for women; in the end, there is a gap created
between men's and women's rights; the view of women is below men, and women
become number two, causing difficulties for women in obtaining their rights
such as health services, economic resources, work and education caused by
political and economic policies which are a form of structural violence.
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View More:
R. P. Tong. 1998. Feminist Thought. (Yogyakarta: Jalasutra).
P. Barker. 2018. The Silence of The Girls. (London: Penguin
Random House).
J. Galtung. 2011. A Missing Family of Classical Orthogonal Polynomials.
Journal of Physics Mathematical and Theoretical. Volume 44. Number 8. https://doi.org/10.1088/1751-8113/44/8/085201
C. Yoon. 2014. Feminist Marxism. Paper Knowledge. Toward a
Media History of Documents, 1990.
D. A. Germia. 2020. Critical Logic of Classical
Philosophers.
