MUHAMMADIYAH.OR.ID, JAKARTA – According to the World Bank, education is a means of seeing equal access for women including how they get access to education, equal access during their study, and access after they graduate.
A member of Commission X of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia Prof. Zainuddin Maliki mentioned that access to education in Indonesia has been equal. However, the real problems of the equality could specifically be noticed from economy and politics.
For example, in parliament as of January 2021, women’s representation reached only 123 people or around 21.39%, meaning that it was below the 30% targeted quota in accordance with Law Number 12/2004 on Elections. Unsurprisingly, policies that lead to women’s aspirations are still difficult to come up with. Out of politics, women are considered to only excel in informal fields such as Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and services. Other than that, the equality of access does not exist.
“Speaking of equality in Indonesia, affirmation for women has existed. It means that all sectors are accessible for both men and women. However, social Darwinism remains to exist in Indonesia. The strongest is the winner,” Prof. Zainuddin Maliki criticized.
Women’s voices and representation are often neglected since equality and justice are not entirely achieved. Access inequality is principally violence happening when relations of power between one element and another element are not balance.
“We aspire to provide access protection and women’s protection against violence, so we have to see that the root of violence is unequal power relations,” Prof. Zainuddin Maliki said at the International Conference on Women Resilience, Peace, and Harmony 2022 conducted by Nasyiatul ‘Aisyiyah on Tuesday (30/8).
The situation is exacerbated by the government’s unequal priorities which focus on instrumental aspects rather than valuable ones. For example, these five recent years policies on education show the condition.
Zainuddin highlighted a bias in success standards, the dissolution of the National Education Standard Agency (BSNP), and the issuance of Regulation of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Number 28/2021 on Organization and Procedures.
“Our education is dominated by rationality of goals instead of values. The values are often ignored. This condition leads to violence in education. Violence occurs in not only war but also our education,” Prof. Zainuddin Maliki emphasized.
Thus, Prof. Zainuddin Maliki expected that programs of Nasyiatul Aisyiyah could provide alternative solutions for the phenomena, particularly issues dealing with women. “We aspire to protect women from this violence, so the root of this problem should be considered. There must be education that mainstreams affection, value literacy, so we can both liberate and humanize humans,” he stressed.
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