It is basically a cultural problem

The formation was organized by the Indonesian Peasants’ Organization Federation, the FSPI, [2] and the SP-Jateng, the peasant organization of Java Centre. Fifteen women from the four corners of the region participated in this, in addition to some male members of the SP-Jateng, who also attended. A major part of the time was taken up with discussions, debates and conversations about the day-to-day life of these peasant women. A brainstorming session [3] enabled them to come to the conclusion that “it is basically a cultural problem” and not a political or economic one. As a consequence, the dominant patriarchal culture was considered to be a restriction on the defence of women’s interests and to their participation in the combat.

From a historical point of view, far from being reduced to an inferior role in traditional peasant communities, women were at the originators. Many generations before, many of those who are today Indonesians used to be nomads. It was the womenfolk who started to become sedentary and cultivate crops. While the men were hunting, some women took the initiative to plant vegetables and cereals around their camps.

It will be a social mobilization

They want to transform this role into power, in order to have a central place in the struggle for access to land and food sovereignty. It was very important for the trainers to point out that social mobilization of Indonesian women does not date from yesterday. “Indonesia has already had striking personalities in the struggle for women’s rights, Kartani being a notable example.” Indeed, Kartani, a Javanese woman who lived in the late 19th century, is considered to be the initiator of the struggle for the improvement of women’s conditions, in particular the access to education. Following this, women were regularly at the heart of the social struggle, notably for logistics and organization. The participants in the training course wanted to take up the torch, in order to improve their situation and to place themselves at the heart of the struggle for improved agrarian reform. They also hope that, by giving back a better status to the women and by fighting for better land distribution, they will be able to live with dignity without being exploited in the city. This city, where “the industrialists prefer to employ women, who are paid less and are more docile.”

At the end of the training course, the participants set out an action plan in order to reach a huge span of women in the peasant organizations in their respective regions. As a first step, they have planned to put in place awareness programmes for everyone concerning equality of the sexes. In parallel, they intend to support the women’s leaders involved in all the organizational levels of the peasants’ struggle. The goal is a double one. Firstly, the women’s’ issue must systematically be taken into account. And then, in the longer term, full equality must be achieved in the militant organizations.

Also read: Resonances Asia N°15 - June 2007