Year in Review #2020NewsWrapped
UI Women in Business has curated some of the news that enlivened our phone’s notifications in 2020. Some of them are toast-worthy and some of them are worthy to be sweared at. But the most important of all, we learned. It never hurt to take a trip down a memory lane to the things that are worth remembering, right?
Women’s domestication in Family Resilience Bill.
In February 2020, Indonesian House of Representative made a controversial move by floating the Family Resilience Bill (RUU Ketahanan Keluarga). This bill was proposed to dictate how family members, especially husband and wife, should behave to maintain family resilience. However, there are a number of articles deemed inappropriate in this bill as they are problematic, such as sexual deviations, no class perspective, and domestication of women. Article 25 paragraph (3) of this bill states the obligations that must be performed by a wife, namely: a. Obligated to regulate the household affairs as well as possible; b. Keep the family together; c. Treats husbands and children according to religious norms, social ethics, and provisions of laws and regulation. Meanwhile, there is no regulation that states how husbands have to regulate the household affairs and moreover, the breadwinner’s duty to fulfill family’s well-being and household needs is only mentioned within husbands’ obligation.
The Family Resilience Bill has received much criticism from the public for bringing back the traditional household, which assigns domestic roles based on gender, with wives as someone who is in charge of household chores and husbands as the breadwinner. This bill aims to limit women’s autonomy in and out of the home, and it needs to stop. There is no need for the bill to limit what women should or should not do regarding their personal life. Men and women, alongside with any other gender, should equally be able to fulfil their personal needs, including the household needs, by doing what they need to do and there should not be any specific rules mentioned. Good thing is that by November 2020, the House of Representative Legislation board (Baleg) decided to stop deliberating after some parties declared that the bill needs more research.
Body Positivity by Tara Basro
In early 2020, Tara Basro returned to the spotlight due to her body positivity campaign post which went viral. Tara Basro shows parts of the body that are considered unattractive; belly rolls and “not skinny enough” arms and legs that have stretch marks on them.
A lot of netizen consider the post as too vulgar. Ministry of Communication and Information Technology spokesperson, Ferdinandus Setu, said that this can be subject to Article 27 paragraph (1) of Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law on appropriate content which reads, “Setiap orang dengan sengaja dan tanpa hak mendistribusikan dan/atau mentransmisikan dan/atau membuat dapat diaksesnya Informasi Elektronik dan/atau Dokumen Elektronik yang memiliki muatan yang melanggar kesusilaan.”
On the other side of the coin, many netizens have criticized the actions of the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (“KOMINFO”). The punishments that can be imposed on Tara Basro are a form of the absence of benchmarks in that article. This is because KOMINFO mistook Tara Basro’s body-positive message by mistaking her campaign for pornography. A lot of people, including various artists, support the campaign by sending her appreciation in the comment section and defending her on Twitter with the hashtag #BelaTara. They believe that the campaign helps a lot of people to love their bodies more and not everyone under the spotlight has a “polished” body. In a thread uploaded by Damar Juniarto, Tara Basro explained that the photo aims to educate people, especially women, to love their bodies even though they are not “perfect” according to existing beauty standards. She also admits that this is motivated by the feeling of discomfort caused by too many people competing for perfection.
This incident proves that women are not yet fully independent of their own bodies. Women have to please a lot of people with their own bodies. This is very sad because when women celebrate the body they have, it becomes controversial. Later this year, many public figures have followed Tara Basro’s step by uploading photos with body positivity campaigns. Take a look at how Clara Sutantio and Sara Robert Louis embrace their bodies and don’t care about what other people think.
Companies are taking a stand against racism
Many corporates are undergoing a policy transition after Black Lives Matter went global.
2020 alone was filled with announcements from major business firms; from Crayola to Procter & Gamble (P&G).
Crayola announced the launch of “Colors of the World” crayon box “to cultivate a more inclusive world for children of all races, cultures and ethnicities.” The color box contains 24 distinct shades intended to reflect 40 skin tones across the globe, ranging from light pink to deepest almond. The boxes also feature a color guide side panel, as well as a gradient skin tone label around each crayon with a name written in English, Spanish and French to further highlight the importance of inclusion and diversity. On the other hand, P&G battled racism with its award-winning ad, “The Talk.” The advert, part of P&G’s wider campaign, My Black Is Beautiful, featured Black parents from various eras having discussions with their children about racism and how to deal with it. The ad has posed a crucial point for everyone: conversations are key to an end to racism.
Although many are still classifying these corporations’ actions as performative activism, it’s still an effort to fight racism as a whole after all.
House postponed the review of the Bill on Sexual Violence (again!)
The annual record of Komnas Perempuan (2020) shows that 4,898 cases of sexual harassment were registered in 2019. Referring to LBH APIK’s experience, advocating cases like that often face challenges due to inadequate legal enforcement of current legislation. Yet, surprisingly The House of Representatives (DPR) removed the widely awaited bill on sexual harassment (RUU PKS) from National Legislation Program (Prolegnas) priority list.
The Bill on Eradication of Sexual Harassment actually has come on leaps and bounds. The initiation of the bill has been ongoing since 2012. In 2014, Komnas Perempuan began to write the analytical manuscript. The bill then was introduced by representatives of DPR in 2017 and became a national legislative program in 2018. But in 2020, the bill was removed from Prolegnas. Vice-Chairman of Commission VIII DPR, Marwan Dasopang, said that the review of the bill was steep — while there are victims waiting for a constitutional framework that will truly protect them.
Though this year it was kicked out from the Prolegnas, the bill is included as part of the Prolegnas for 2021. Do not let this crucial bill be downplayed again. In addition, we can sign the bit.ly/SahkanRUUPKS petition as a source of support for victims.
Through a powerful 10-minute speech, AOC enlightens a Congressman — and the world — about misogyny
During a heated discussion at the steps of the Capitol, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became the victim of Ted Yoho’s uncalled-for sexist comments. AOC, most well-known as the youngest ever elected Congresswoman in the US and — at times — her progressive politics, cited that Yoho, a fellow Congressman, had called her “disgusting” and “out of (her) freaking mind.” Some reporters even overheard him calling her “a fucking bitch”.
The blatantly misogynistic remarks didn’t go unnoticed. A few days later, AOC decided to respond through a speech in front of the House chamber. In a careful and calm manner, she asserted that this kind of sexist behavior is not new. In her own words, “…it is cultural. It is a culture of lack of impunity, of accepting violence and violent language against women and an entire structure of power that supports that. … This is a pattern of an attitude towards women and dehumanization of others.” AOC, instead, chose that she wouldn’t be silenced anymore. The dangerous patriarchal structure which we live in should not be accepted. In the end, she made it clear that the fight to equality is still necessary, and that we must not stop here.
The death of our feminist hero, Ruth Bader Ginsburg
On September 18, the world mourned over the loss of a history-making Supreme Court jurist/feminist icon/civil rights advocate, Lady Justice Ginsburg. She was the second woman to serve on the highest court of the United States. She had served for over 25 years, after being sworn in 1993 during Bill Clinton’s presidency, while undergoing multiple surgeries, radiation therapy, and other cancer treatments. Over the course of her life, she was celebrated for abolishing sex discriminating laws that had impeded women and men to be equal in the eyes of the law. She was dubbed as “The Notorious R.B.G” because of her uncanny dedication and candor in fighting not just for women’s rights, but also for men’s rights. One of her breakthrough cases includes Weinberger vs. Wiesenfeld in 1975 where she relentlessly fought for laws that restrict men, who were surviving widowers, to receive social security benefits.
The vacant chamber has now been filled by the newly sworn-in Justice Amy Coney Barret. Justice Barret, who was nominated by President Trump, became the fifth female justice in the court’s history and her appointment moved the high court to a 6–3 conservative majority.
Kamala Harris & Dr. Jill Biden: First female, black, Asian-American Vice President and a FLOTUS that has a full-time job
Joe Biden’s victory in the recent election has brought triumph to women all over the world as we have the first madame vice president in the US’s 244-year existence, Kamala Harris. Kamala Harris is a daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrants, a perfect embodiment of “living the American dreams”. Before running in the presidential race, she had built her reputation as a junior senator from California. Another one, Dr. Jill Biden also will step into the White House as the First Lady of the United States (FLOTUS) with a full-time job. Dr. Jill, who obtained four university degrees, will be continuing her career as an English professor at Northern Virginia Community College while advocating free community college, military families, and expanding cancer research and education. Both of these women have inspired many girls around the world that we can define our roles the way we want to be, not by how society tells us to be.
Scotland becomes First nation to provide free period products
Scotland never ceased to make its habitants happier. Last November, the Scottish parliament unanimously passed a substantial law to make tampons and sanitary napkins free in all public buildings. The campaign was pioneered by nationwide grassroots support led by Monica Lennon. This groundbreaking initiative had fundamentally softened the stigma around menstruation and highlighted “Period Poverty” as public discourse. Period poverty underscores the unaffordable or inaccessible period products to girls in poorer countries. With average periods lasting for up to a week, some women may struggle to afford them so they decide to buy the inexpensive alternative that is less hygienic. Fingers crossed that Indonesia will follow Scotland’s footstep since 80% of girls reported missing one to two days of school during their last menstruation because they feared buying sanitary period products as menstruation is seen as harmful socio-cultural taboos. Period Poverty could eventually cultivate into school-dropout and absenteeism, engendering vast gender disparities within Indonesia.
Broad way to the elimination of Gender Based Violence
16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence is an annual global campaign originating from the first Women’s Global Leader Institute that has been active since 1991. As mentioned in the name, the campaign runs for 16 days, which kicks off on November 25 until December 10. Those 16 days of campaign were chosen to link violence against women and human rights. This campaign is an attempt to erase any forms of violence against women throughout the world. By 2020, the global theme for 16 Days of Activism was “Orange the World: Fund, Respond, Prevent, Collect!”. This theme was a respond for the alarming increase in the already existing pandemic of violence against women and girls due to the lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile in Indonesia, this campaign was adopted by Komnas Perempuan into 16 Hari Anti Kekerasan terhadap Perempuan (16HAKtP) in 2003. This year, the theme raised by Komnas Perempuan is “Gerak Bersama: Jangan Tunda lagi, Sahkan RUU Penghapusan Kekerasan Seksual”. The goals of 16HAKtP campaign in Indonesia for at least in the last 4 years is actually the same: to pass the long-awaited Anti-Sexual Violence Bill, RUU PKS. It is already been four years since RUU PKS was introduced by the Indonesian parliament yet in this year the bill was once again removed from the National Legislation Program priority list and rescheduled for discussion in 2021. Moreover, in this year, the 16HAKtP campaign has spread widely to various groups of society and places in Indonesia. The campaign was held in 25 provinces, 38 cities, and 13 districts in Indonesia and was attended by more than 167 organizations with a total of 284 campaign agenda.
Women Leaders Across The World versus COVID-19
Tsai Ing-wen, President of Taiwan
Ing-wen was one of the fastest leaders to take COVID-19 seriously. In January, she introduced 124 measures to block the spread without conducting lockdowns that have become common.
Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand
Contrary to Ing-wen, Ardern was clear with her decision to lock down the country. Although they implemented contrastingly different policies, their decisiveness made their countries live in a safer atmosphere.
Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany
Merkel told her countrymen that they were facing an infectious virus that might infect 70% of the population. She was straight to the harsh reality that everybody needs to take part in fixing it. With that, German became the few countries with a low infectious rate of COVID-19.
Katrín Jakobsdóttir, Prime Minister of Iceland
While most countries are struggling because of limited testing for people with active symptoms, Jakobsdóttir gives free coronavirus testing to all her citizens. The free testing helped them to conduct an in-depth study of COVID-19 which made Iceland capable of contributing in finding out asymptomatic cases.
With all those achievements, it’s time to acknowledge that women don’t have to adopt men’s traits to be suitable for leadership positions.
Shadow Pandemic: Women in The Age of COVID-19
Limitations on movement and economic activities, especially in the informal sector where many women are involved, have been reported to have severely compromised women’s ability to generate income and support themselves and their families. Refugees and marginalized women and girls have particularly been hit hard as they are more reliant on domestic jobs, small-scale trade and other informal sector activities. A study released by the International Rescue Committee said that the global response to COVID-19 had failed women and girls.
UN Women reported that 243 million women and girls between ages of 15 and 49 were subject to abuse in 12 months preceding the pandemic. Therefore, harassment towards women has also been recognized as a “global pandemic.” The coexistence of two pandemics perpetuates the implications of negative health and well-being experiences for everyone who is still living under precarious circumstances prior to COVID‐19. Expectedly, the pandemic sparked an uptick in cases of domestic abuse, resulting in alerts of at least 15 million more cases per three months of quarantine.
Free Vaccine to all Indonesian Citizens
Towards the end of 2020, one of the milestones currently in the matrix of the COVID-19 pandemic is the discovery and development of its vaccine. A number of companies have developed the vaccine under a lot of spotlight, including those from Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Janssen, with the last two currently still on phase 3 trial. In addition to these developments, a number of countries have taken steps and policies to ensure that vaccines will be given to the citizens free of charge, those countries include Japan, France, USA, and India.
Indonesia made a different, albeit similar in the end, turn. The famously photographed picture of 1.2 million Sinovac vaccines arriving at Soekarno — Hatta International Airport at 6th December 2020 has surely made headlines and even thought to affect the Jakarta Composite Index, rising 1.18%. The original strategy that was announced was to sell the vaccines into different plans, with prices ranging from Rp70,000 to Rp300,000. The mere notion that the vaccines that were manufactured to combat a worldwide pandemic that already has harmful effects to the livelihood of the people, particularly those from the lower class, and to have them set at a particular price, speaks volumes. From the sheer unimportance of the livelihood of the affected citizens to the thought that safety and cure in the middle of a pandemic is only available to those who can afford it, despite the fifth Pancasila clearly saying ‘Social justice for every Indonesian citizen’. A survey conducted by The Health Ministry even concluded that only 35% of participants were willing to pay for the vaccine.
Fortunately, this plan did not last long as it clearly raised an abundance of complaints and critics. The president announced via a livestream on YouTube that the vaccine for COVID -1 9 will be free to all citizens, and that he himself will be the first to be injected with the vaccine. The state budget plan will be allocated towards getting the vaccine accessible to all citizens.
Gitanjali Rao: 2020 Kid of the Year, a new hope for young women in STEM
Once more, young people have left us in awe. This time it is a young Indian-American from Colorado, Gitanjali Rao. The inspiring 15-year-old scientist and inventor has been selected among over 5.000 nominees as TIME’s first ever Kid of The Year; a title given to young people who has brought about positive impacts to their communities through science and technology. Rao, being the brilliant inventor that she is, has invented various new technologies among a wide range of fields, from Tehys, a sensor technology to detect lead in drinking water, to Kindly, an application that can detect possible early signs of cyberbullying. With the “observe, brainstorm, research, build, communicate” principle, she aims to create more innovations in order to solve global problems. Not only that, being a young, female, Indian-descent scientist, Rao intends to inspire more girls her age to do the same. It really is never too late to have more inclusivity in STEM. At the end of the day, Rao’s award has been a symbol of another progress that we should celebrate.
If you have reached the article this far, thank you for keeping up with us and congratulations for surviving 2020! For every hardship that you endured, there must be a new strength that would help you navigate what this year has in store. Enough ruminating on the unfulfilled expectations, unticked goals, plans on hold, and everything that makes you question your worth. Hopefully, this will be the year for all of us to de-stress and heal. May the odds be ever in your favor. Cheers to twenty twentyone! *champagne poppin’* *glasses tossing*
