Social media gives Indonesian women new voice
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Indonesian women shout slogans during a protest demanding District Chief Aceng Fikri to step down, in Garut, West Java, Indonesia, on Dec 21, 2012. Women in this social-media-obsessed country have been rallying, online and on the streets, against sexist comments and attacks on women. -- FILE PHOTO: AP
JAKARTA (AP) - A judge being interviewed for a Supreme Court job jokes that women might enjoy rape. A local official takes a 17-year-old second wife, then quickly divorces her by text message.
Both cases reflect attitudes toward women's rights and safety that have persisted for years in this Southeast Asian archipelago nation of 240 million people.
The difference now: Both officials are at risk of losing their jobs.
Women in this social-media-obsessed country have been rallying, online and on the streets, against sexist comments and attacks on women. The response is seen as a small step for women's rights in Indonesia, where the government is secular and most people practice a moderate form of Islam.
