By: Musdah Mulia

Introduction

The Indonesian people is fortunate to have a state ideology called Pancasila which contains noble values that are compatible with the essence of the teachings of all religions and universal human rights principles. The problem is, the noble values of Pancasila are generally only discussed in public spaces like a mantra. Its values, especially social justice, have not been optimally implemented in national and state life. It is not surprising that public life in this country is still filled with injustice, including gender injustice. The indications are seen in the form of various forms of discrimination, exploitation and gender-based violence. The victims are mainly women and other vulnerable groups, such as the disabled, the elderly and oppressed minorities.

Indonesia’s commitment to upholding the principle of gender equality and justice has been seen since the government ratified the United Nations (UN) document entitled: The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Indonesia also signed this convention, and on July 24, 1984 ratified it through Law of the Republic of Indonesia No. 7 of 1984. This convention is one of 8 conventions related to human rights (HAM) ratified by Indonesia.

Furthermore, as an implementation of the convention, the government issued Presidential Instruction Number 9 of 2000 concerning Gender Mainstreaming in Development (Inpres PUG). Then, the government also signed an international agreement, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which includes the goal of fulfilling gender equality and other norms.

Gender mainstreaming is a development strategy carried out to achieve gender equality and justice through the integration of women’s and men’s experiences, aspirations, needs, and problems into the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of all policies, programs, projects and development activities in various areas of life. This strategy began during the era of President Abdurrahman Wahid.

The purpose of gender mainstreaming is to ensure that women and men have equal access to development resources, equal participation in the development process, including the decision-making process, have equal control over development resources, and receive equal benefits from development results. So, this strategy is not intended to change women into men or vice versa, but rather so that both have equality in access, participation, control and enjoy the benefits of development.

Since 2000, gender mainstreaming has become one of the main principles of national development in Indonesia. This emphasizes the need to integrate gender perspectives in aspects of development planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. Then, in 2012, gender mainstreaming became one of the mandatory components in the submission of regional government program plans. Specifically, Bappenas and the Ministry of Home Affairs recommend that without gender-based programs and gender-responsive budgets, financial support from the central government for the implementation of development in the regions will not be provided.

Implementation of development in all areas of life, in addition to paying attention to the principle of gender mainstreaming, the government must of course be based on the noble values of Pancasila which is the state ideology and is the main guide in all development ideas and activities. For that, it is necessary to explain that gender mainstreaming is in line with the noble values of Pancasila.

Philosophical study of Pancasila with a gender equality approach

It is important to always remember that Pancasila is one of the sources of enthusiasm for achieving independence and unity of the Indonesian nation. Not many people know that the effort to formulate Pancasila had begun long before the proclamation of Indonesian independence, namely during the BPUPKI session on May 28, 1945-June 1, 1945. In the session, questions arose about the foundation of the Indonesian state. The members of the session then conveyed a number of ideas and thoughts regarding the foundation of the state whose independence was just around the corner. At least, there were three figures who conveyed their thoughts on the foundation of the state, namely Muhammad Yamin, Soepomo and Soekarno. However, the session had not yet produced a consensus among the members of the session. The formulation of Pancasila was only announced on August 18, 1945 after the Preparatory Committee for Indonesian Independence managed to reach a consensus.

Thus, Pancasila officially became the foundation of the Indonesian state. As the foundation of the state, Pancasila is the source of all laws and regulations in Indonesia. In addition, Pancasila is also the ideology and philosophy of the nation. This means that Pancasila is a political perspective of the state and nation. Then, as the philosophy of the nation, Pancasila is a moral guide for every Indonesian citizen.

Pancasila consists of five principles, namely Belief in the One Almighty God, just and civilized humanity, the unity of Indonesia, democracy guided by the wisdom of deliberation/representation, and social justice for all Indonesian people. If we read Pancasila with the optics of gender equality and justice, it will be clearly seen that all the principles in Pancasila contain the principles of gender equality and justice.

The source of Pancasila is the culture of Indonesian society and basically, the existing culture upholds the values of humanity, especially the values of equality and justice. Soekarno himself in his book entitled Sarinah saw that the Indonesian nation must uphold humanitarian values, namely not exploiting other human beings.

The first principle: Belief in the One Almighty God. This principle contains deep spiritual values. The Indonesian nation is a people of God who believe in the existence of God and spiritual value. The state provides freedom for all citizens to practice religion according to their respective beliefs. If the state gives freedom to citizens to practice religion, it means that the state should also give freedom to its citizens to choose not to practice religion. Unfortunately, this principle has not been accepted by the majority. Efforts to strengthen religious literacy for the community are still needed.

Because, religion and belief are very private. The state should respect the privacy of a citizen. However, in its implementation, every citizen must comply with the applicable rules, for example rules related to morality, order, health and public safety. The implementation of a person’s right to freedom of religion must not violate the freedom of others. Therefore, an attitude of mutual respect, mutual respect and mutual assistance and cooperation are needed sincerely in religious life and in efforts to build the nation’s spirituality.

In relation to this spiritual value, all religions and beliefs that have grown in this beloved country teach that humans consist of at least two genders, namely male and female. Both are God’s creatures who have dignity and equal position before God. Therefore, there should be no discriminatory, exploitative and violent treatment based on anything, including religion and belief against one gender, be it male or female. This principle reminds us of the essential teachings of all religions and beliefs to honor others without any barriers of gender, sex, ethnicity, skin color, nation and a number of other primordial ties. Respecting humans means we respect the creator of humans, whom we call God.

As the majority religion, Islam supports the principle of gender equality and justice for its people. The Qur’an, Surah Al- Hujurat verse 13 emphasizes that Allah swt. created all humans in an equal position. Allah swt. only judges humans based on the quality of their piety. Therefore, no particular group or gender is superior to others. Human virtue is only seen from the quality of their piety. Not only Islam, but other religions and beliefs also believe that women are equal to men, both as God’s creatures and as full citizens.

The second principle is just and civilized humanity. This principle contains very strong universal humanitarian values. It shows that the Indonesian state and nation uphold the principles of human rights. In addition, this principle also encourages fundamental freedoms, equality before the law, equal opportunity in accessing social and political fields, openness, and protection from discrimination on the basis of gender.

Every human being, regardless of sex and gender, has the right to receive fair and equal treatment. There should be no discriminatory, exploitative and violent treatment, either from the state, government officials or from fellow citizens in any form against a citizen. Referring to the most important human rights document, namely the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, all individuals regardless of race, color, sex, language, religion, political ideology and so on have the right to be treated humanely, have their most basic rights protected and enjoy all forms of human rights fulfillment, including not experiencing discrimination.

The third principle is the unity of Indonesia. This principle contains the values of unity, peace and brotherhood that encourage gender equality and justice for all citizens, including women. The unity of the Indonesian nation will remain sustainable when all individuals feel justice and equal treatment, without any discrimination. Therefore, it is important for the state to implement the values of inclusivity, openness that is full of tolerance and harmony so that all citizens feel the same feeling, namely the Indonesian nation. Exclusive, intolerant and discriminatory public behavior and policies towards women can give rise to conflicts that divide national unity. Thus, the patriarchal system that demeans women and their roles must be abolished.

The fourth principle is democracy led by the wisdom of deliberation/representation. This principle contains very concrete democratic values, namely the elements of deliberation and representation. This principle clearly encourages gender equality and justice for Indonesian women. This principle shows that Indonesia is a democratic country and power in the Indonesian government must be achieved through deliberation and is a form of representation of all groups of the Indonesian people. This is where it is important to ensure the representation of women in all aspects of development.

Finally, the Fifth Principle is social justice for all Indonesian people. The last principle explicitly encourages the presence of a just society without any discrimination based on anything against a particular group, including women. All citizens must have the same rights in access, participation, control and enjoying the benefits of development. Of course it is not easy to build a just society, but this is our goal as a nation and state. Therefore, all important elements of society are proactively involved in helping the government realize this noble ideal.

Efforts to realize the fifth principle which is the core of Pancasila and the noble ideals of the nation are still far from expectations, even though we have been independent for almost 80 years. The causes include the still found gender biased rules and policies, and program budgets that are not gender responsive. In addition, the still high cases of corruption, nepotism and oligarchy and the strengthening of dynastic politics so that the country’s wealth is only enjoyed by a handful of people. They are generally the rulers, their families and cronies who implement a hedonistic, individualistic and materialistic lifestyle ! They are the true enemies of Pancasila. They not only hurt the sense of justice and humanity, but also pollute and damage the environment and natural resources, the negative impacts of which are felt most by women and children.

Philosophical studies of Pancasila show that the five principles of Pancasila support justice and equality for all citizens, including Indonesian women. The principles of divinity, humanity, unity, democracy, and social justice ideally encourage the creation of a just, equal and prosperous Indonesian nation. Only with equality and justice can an advanced, prosperous, just and civilized Indonesian society be realized. This condition has been proven by developed countries in the world, such as countries in Scandinavia (Northern Europe).

The impact of implementing gender mainstreaming

The government’s determination to implement gender mainstreaming in all areas of development has yielded quite significant results. The lives of Indonesian women after the 1998 Reformation have experienced a number of advances, including in various existing laws and regulations, for example in the Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia. There is a special chapter discussing human rights (HAM), namely Chapter XA, Article 28A to Article 28J. These articles state that everyone has the right to enjoy their respective human rights. The use of the phrase everyone clearly shows that the state views the position of all citizens as equal. There should be no discrimination against women for any reason.

The state provides equal opportunities for all citizens to enjoy all existing rights and opportunities. For example, Article 28C, Paragraph 1 states that everyone has the right to develop themselves, get an education, and benefit from science and technology, art, and culture. This means that the state sees the position of women as equal to men in the position of citizens.

In addition, the state is also aware that there are systematic obstacles to several groups, including women, so the government needs to amend Article 28H, paragraph 2, which allows affirmative policies. Affirmative policies are needed for women to catch up on their backwardness due to the influence of patriarchal culture that has demeaned women so far. It is a fact that throughout human history, women have always been the ones who are disadvantaged by the patriarchal system and culture that applies in society.

Affirmative action policies to encourage women’s representation in Indonesian politics are evident in Law Number 22 of 2007, which regulates the implementation of elections, Law Number 2 of 2008 on Political Parties, and Law Number 10 of 2008, which regulates the Elections of the DPR, DPD, and DPRD. These three laws encourage increased representation of women in politics.

The progress of Indonesian women has become increasingly visible with the establishment of the National Commission on Violence Against Women in October 1998. After the reformation, various social movements based on Non-Governmental Organizations began to emerge to increase the participation of civil society in the development process, including women themselves.

With the increasing openness of public space in the democratization process of Indonesia, women’s movements now have a wider opportunity to exchange ideas and determine the substance of their movements. They are now the main actors for their own movements, not just part of the affiliation of political agendas or other political movements.

Although some progress has been made, and the patriarchal system is beginning to erode, the impacts continue to be present throughout the generations in various forms. This is still seen in the form of gender-biased public regulations and policies, misogynistic interpretations of religion , legal norms and traditional values that still demean women.

Conclusion

Gender equality and justice is one of the important issues faced by the world, including Indonesia. Pancasila, as the foundation of the Indonesian state, contains the values of spirituality, humanity, justice, democracy and civilization that encourage equal and fair recognition and treatment for all citizens, including men and women in all aspects of social, national and state life.

Pancasila is a strong foundation for realizing gender equality and justice in Indonesia because it contains noble values that support the principle of equality and justice for all citizens without distinguishing between sex and gender. The values in question include: equal rights and obligations, equal access and opportunity, and equal treatment for all citizens without exception. These values should be implemented in various areas of life, such as politics, economics, social, and culture.

In other words, Pancasila is the foundation for gender mainstreaming efforts in Indonesia. Of course, its implementation efforts are not easy, considering a number of obstacles that lie ahead, including patriarchal culture, misogynistic religious interpretations, legal norms that are still gender biased and traditional customs that still demean women. As a result, there is still a number of discriminations, exploitations and violence against women and girls in various aspects of life.

Therefore, gender mainstreaming efforts need to be further strengthened. It is important for all parties, not just women, to join the struggle to create conditions of gender equality and justice in Indonesia. The gender mainstreaming strategy must be implemented, not only by the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Children, but also by all ministries and institutions in this country. In fact, also by all existing NGOs, corporations and organizations.

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