Indonesian parties support court ruling on gender quota in House bodies

JAKARTA - Political parties have voiced support for the recent Constitutional Court of Indonesia ruling mandating that the House of Representatives must have at least 30 per cent female representation in its internal bodies and pledged to implement the changes across the legislature.

On Oct 30, the court ruled that 30 per cent of members in all House bodies – from lawmaking commissions to ethics committees – must now be women to boost greater female representation in the lawmaking process.

The larger number will also enable women to collectively advocate for women’s rights across all areas of governance, according to the justices.

The court highlighted that

female lawmakers have been unevenly distributed across the House’s bodies

, with women mostly assigned to commissions handling social issues, child protection or women’s empowerment. Other areas deemed strategic, such as the economy, law, energy and defence, remain dominated by men.

The judicial review petition was filed by women’s advocacy and pro-democracy groups, including the Indonesian Women’s Coalition and the Association for Elections and Democracy, to challenge the Legislative Institutions (MD3) Law for not including a gender quota, despite other prevailing laws that already regulate female representation in politics.

House Speaker Puan Maharani, the first woman to hold such a position since 2019, welcomed the court ruling, saying the legislature would study the ruling. House leadership will discuss with all legislative factions to determine how best to implement the ruling.

“We hope that we can go beyond 30 per cent and, ideally, have even more women in leadership positions in the House’s internal bodies,” said Ms Puan, a member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, the largest party in the House, on Nov 4.

Politicians of other parties also showed support for the ruling, as they acknowledged that women’s leadership in the legislature’s internal bodies – now comprising 13 commissions and seven working bodies – would promote a more balanced and inclusive decision-making.

Ms Putri Zulkifli Hasan, who leads the National Mandate Party (PAN) faction in the House, reiterated her party’s commitment to giving female members strategic roles in the legislature.

She said the faction would support adjustments to the House’s internal rules to align with the ruling.

“Having women in the House’s internal bodies’ leadership will broaden legislative perspectives and help the House better address issues that directly impact society, including social protection, health, education and family empowerment,” said Ms Putri, daughter of PAN chair and Coordinating Food Minister Zulkifli Hasan, in a statement.

NasDem Party also backed the court ruling, calling for the progressive court decision to be incorporated into the House’s internal rules to ensure proportional female representation in leadership roles.

“Only a few countries legally require proportional female representation in their House. Most countries only set a quota through an electoral law, not within the law governing the legislature itself,” Mr Willy Aditya of NasDem said.

“Indonesia is now among the few countries that legally enshrine proportional female representation in the House. We should be grateful for this achievement,” he said.

The Golkar Party, which holds the second-largest number of House seats, also expressed readiness to comply with the court ruling. However, it stressed the need to carefully study the details to ensure fair allocation of female representatives across all legislative bodies.

“We want to avoid having too many female representatives in some House bodies, while leaving other bodies underrepresented,” Golkar politician Sarmuji noted.

Experts previously warned the House to try to interpret the ruling loosely and treat women’s representation as optional rather than mandatory in any future revision to the MD3 law.

They also noted that leadership selection within House bodies had long been shaped by pragmatism rather than based on merits, overriding the principle of representation and leaving women marginalised. THE JAKARTA POST/ASIA NEWS NETWORK