Empowering Women in the East

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Indonesia is still far from achieving equality for women. The 2016 Global Gender Gap Index released by the World Economic Forum ranks Indonesia 88 out of 144 countries. In politics, the 30 percent quota allocated for women in the House of Representatives (DPR) has never been filled, with few women from Indonesia’s eastern regions taking part in the public decision process. But a movement started by Wilhelmina Mali Dappa has been underway to empower women in Sumba to speak up and be counted. Meanwhile, women preachers from the Evangelical Christian Church Synod, the biggest synod in Timor’s capital of Kupang, are spreading awareness about gender equality. A Tempo English special feature in celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8.

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New, Transformed Women

Concerned that women were always being excluded from policy-making in Southwest Sumba, Wilhelmina Dappa acted. She trained the region's women to speak up and take action.

YOHANA Loru Kaka is no longer an ordinary villager. When Tempo English met her last year, she was already heading the Village Governance Institute (LPM). "I've been invited to a development planning meeting for our subdistrict tomorrow," said the 61-year-old

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